The Ptolemaic Mysteries
by Abyssopelagic
Summary: When rogue magicians cross the forbidden line and kill two young demigods, the natural, maintained balance of Olympus and the Duat is broken. Now someone will have to heal it. AU, set right after SoN. PJO/Kane crossover.
1. Confusion

The message was so surprising, so confusing, that Annabeth had to put it down after the first reading and get her bearings. Then she picked up the sheet again, poring over the neat print and trying to make sense of what they'd just received.

It was like Chiron had been too shocked to do anything but write everything exactly as he heard it. No time for explanations, only time to force out a letter, then throw it at a naiad and have her ferry it over. Which wasn't even efficient, which was an even worse sign, because Chiron was always efficient.

_Rogue magicians entered Manhattan on a mission against the House's orders. Encountered two demigods, Apollo and Hermes parentage respectfully, and initiated a confrontation. Warnings from Olympus were not paid heed by the trespassers._

As always, Chiron knew things Annabeth didn't, because how else could you explain what he was talking about? He might have been surprised, but apparently "magicians" and "warnings from Olympus" were certainly not his reasons for being so. Unlike her, who had almost dropped the letter from her shaking fingertips.

_Both demigods were killed in the fight. Bodies have not yet been recovered. Reopened Duat claims zero responsibility, gods have threatened conflict. All are entirely distracted from our prophecy. __**Halt all activity regarding the **_**Argo II **_**until further notice.**_

"Annabeth?" Percy was calling her from down the hall, but she ignored it for the moment, reading the message one more time. The real horror of it sunk in then, a dull ache rising in her chest. She shared Chiron's revulsion at this unwarranted murder, his shock. Even if she didn't completely get why.

_Stay in Camp Jupiter. Keep ties strong, protect yourselves from magicians. One has revealed their energy to us, so their cover is off. Pay attention to dreams._

_And pray to your parents that they avoid war._

_- Chiron_

"Annabeth? You okay?"

They'd lost enough already. They'd had enough insanity thrown at them this year. Not one of them was used to Greek and Roman, Greco-Roman or whatever you wanted to call it, even if they were on the cusp of teaming up and dealing with a vengeful old earth goddess. And now, thought Annabeth, now there were more gods, more deaths, more orders, more panic from _Chiron _of all people, and all of it uncharacteristically cryptic and strange.

"_Annabeth!_" She jumped, and there was Percy, standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips. "You dead to the world? I wanted to ask you if-"

Percy's voice faltered when he saw Annabeth's face. She said nothing in response at first, finally holding out the letter to him.

"You need to see this. Then call a meeting."

She could already feel a headache coming on. Too much to think about, too much to do. Too many fears.

* * *

><p>"So they're just not gonna tell us anything else?"<p>

"That's exactly it." Percy leaned on the ship's railing, waving the letter in front of him. "This is all we know. We have to wait for instructions."

Leo threw his hands in the air. "Of course. This beautiful ship is all ready to go, too. So of course _right now _we have to drop everything for a bunch of crap we've never heard of."

He received a steady glare from most of those assembled. Piper's eyes were steely, and fixed on her friend.

"People just _died_, Leo. The stupid ship can wait another few days for that."

"The _Argo II _is not a 'stupid ship,' thank you."

"That's not the point! You're being immature."

Jason, standing between them, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Would you two knock it off? Leo, don't be a jerk, Piper, don't provoke him." Hazel peeked at him from where she was sitting, looking sympathetic (then looking at her feet when she and Leo accidentally met eyes). Percy glanced around, shaking his head softly. Leo had the good sense to look ashamed.

"We still have to find Nico, too," Hazel said softly. Nobody but Frank seemed to hear her.

"I don't want to hear this any more than you guys do," Percy said tiredly. "Actually? I probably want to hear it the least. I have months to make up on, and this was going to be how."

Jason nodded in silent approval, the only one who could share that particular sentiment. An awkward silence hung around them, for several long seconds.

"And you're sure this isn't a Greek trick from your teacher? Something else to put us off guard?"

Reyna had been standing under a sail (and as far from Piper as possible), looking so impressively indifferent that Percy had almost forgotten her. Now the whole meeting – the assumed Seven, Grover, Tyson, and Annabeth – looked up together. Annabeth's face was almost panicked, and Grover noticed, reaching out to put an arm around her shoulders.

Percy's voice was soft. "I'm sorry?"

Frank, standing behind Hazel, opened his mouth to say something, but his praetor beat him to it. Reyna lifted her chin to look at Percy. "I'm ... sorry. My suspicions have not be completely put to rest. And someone has to placate Octavian. What I meant to say is, this seems too poorly placed to be anything but something to throw you off on purpose."

"Chiron wasn't himself in that letter," Annabeth said in an odd voice. "I've known him for nearly ten years. Something really is wrong, there's something he can't tell us. And before you say a _word_, it was definitely him. Only someone powerful could get a letter through to us right now, like Chiron, and ..." She stopped. Grover tightened his arm around her, and gave Reyna a black look. She ignored him, and Annabeth; but Reyna had gotten very good at ignoring Annabeth that week.

Reyna kept her eyes on Percy. "Someone powerful like Gaea, perhaps."

"That's enough!" Jason's voice was fierce, maybe too fierce, and cut off anyone else who might have wanted to speak. To his credit, he seemed to realize enough to relax his tone. "Reyna, I really don't think this is a trick. Gaea doesn't have time for this. She's kind of ... you know, busy, destroying the world."

Percy thanked the gods that Jason Grace had a good head on his shoulders – a stoic, quiet guy, but there was a reason he'd been praetor. He gave his counterpart a nod. "The letter's too ... well, truthful. Chiron's actually distressed, he had no time to be cryptic and annoy us more by 'protecting us from the truth' and the like. I mean – it's still confusing as all get-out, but that's because our sender's confused too. See what I'm saying here?"

Reyna nodded, conceding to Percy. "It makes somewhat more sense when I hear it that way, I'll give you that. Somewhat. But I'll stay vigilant, and if you're wrong ..." She shook her head. "I'll have to tell ourdear augur about this. We'll be seeing a shortage of stuffed toys afterwards."

Hazel glanced around nervously. "Where _is _Octavian? Shouldn't he be here?"

"He won't get on the ship," Reyna replied dryly. "He says it makes him feel unclean."

Leo snorted. "Good. Nobody wanted him up here anyway."

Piper's eyes flashed. "Leo."

"I think that's all for today," Percy said quickly, deftly silencing another dispute (and wondering, not for the first time, just how much Leo loved the _Argo II _to begin with). "You guys can go. I'm ... going to go to my bunk, and read this over again." The other looked at him in some confusion – it was an abrupt ending to an already awkward meeting. "I'll see you guys at dinner."

"I will go guard the camp!" Tyson said immediately, before the others could disperse. "And hit any magicians that come close with my big stick, okay? I've heard of magicians - nobody is killing _you!_"

Reyna gave him an odd look, but Percy smiled. Tyson was nothing if not earnest. "Sure, buddy. Good luck." Tyson was the first to run off, headed straight for the service tunnel. At least he'd earned his respect in the battle – Rome wouldn't deny him guard duty.

"Funny how he knows more about magicians than any of us – whatever they are, in this case," Frank said.

"I've heard a story or two, but I've never in my life heard of a Duat," Grover replied, surprising Percy. "The House is something like an old, old myth for non-humans, but I never thought ..."

"Don't worry about it, Grover," Percy said finally. "We'll keep on our toes, okay? Hope it's a ... very, very overblown false alarm." Nobody seemed very reassured, especially not the Greeks. Chiron had never once raised a false alarm.

Percy didn't get many goodbyes on his way off the ship; but everyone was still distracted, and he didn't blame them. Nor did he want to be bothered. Annabeth, he figured, would need a couple of hours before she was up for company – and being that she was the only person Percy wanted to talk to, alone it was.

Camp Jupiter was, admittedly, a pleasant-looking place, and the _Argo II _cut an impressive silhouette, moored where it was on the Little Tiber. He could see why Leo was proud of the thing. Of course, his mood was marred; Percy wasn't concentrating on the view.

"Hey, Percy! Wait up, will you?"

He suppressed a sigh before turning around. "Hey, Leo. You're not getting the scuffs out of the deck now that we've stomped around up there?" So much for some time to clear his head.

"Nah, not yet." Leo shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "Your buddy Grover ate my tin of polish – again. Anyway, listen. I'm actually gonna try and be serious for a minute. I need to ask you a question."

Leo was a nice guy. A little obnoxious sometimes, but Percy would humour him. It was rare enough to see Leo Valdez at all serious. "Shoot. Make it quick."

He didn't seem deflated. "You know more about Camp Half-Blood, about this place even, than I do, or most of us do. You and Jason are lucky like that. So ..."

"So?"

"So I _know _you can give me a better answer than your official-ish one: how screwed are we, really?"

Percy stopped walking. "Why aren't you asking Jason? Same level as me and all. And your best friend."

"Because ..." Leo paused for a moment. "Because, I dunno. Give me _something_, will you? I just need to know."

Percy stuffed his hands into his pockets, giving Leo a long, tired look. "I think ... pretty screwed, Leo. We're on a time limit here, and Gaea won't wait for us. If Greeks and Romans can't settle their differences – and we haven't – I don't know how the gods will deal with that Duat or whatever it is."

Leo seemed unusually solemn at that. Percy really couldn't blame him. "They're pretty good at going to war. Our parents, I mean."

"Yeah."

"Anyway," Leo said finally, apparently trying to break this off for Percy's sake. He looked apologetic, even. "I guess it'll probably be okay. Just a blip on the radar, right? We've been through worse."

Percy managed a lopsided grin. "Smartest thing you've said all day, Argonaut."

Leo grinned back, and his flashed brightly. "No hating, dude. Not on your partners in crime, your Argonaut amigos. You know what I'm sayin'."

"Alright, Leo, buddy." Percy held out a hand. "I thought you were gonna be serious?"

Another grin. "It won't last. But – speaking of which, Percy." His smile faded. "One more thing. Legit seriousness, actually."

"Sure."

Leo meant well, he always did. Percy was more than tolerating him, which was impressive, given the mood he was in.

"Is Annabeth alright?" His eyebrows furrowed, looking hard at Percy. "Y'know, because she's pretty close with Chiron, and I guess she knew those two demigods ... she's shaken up really good."

Percy exhaled softly. "She's shaken up, yeah." He hadn't seen her this bothered in a long time. Suddenly he felt a rush of guilt, from just slinking away on his own. Maybe he should've stayed, instead of assuming that she'd want to be alone. "But you know Annabeth." He half-smiled. "Annabeth's tough as nails. I'd bet drachmas on her finding the fix to our problem, if she could put her mind to it."

He could tell that was reassuring. Leo relaxed. "You got lucky with that girl, man. So make sure she can calm down, alright? As the caring and totally-not-prying dude that I am, I'm counting on it."

"Sure, Leo. You count on it."

"Good man." Leo's grin flashed again, then he turned to go. "I guess I'll see you at dinner? Try not to brood yourself out."

"Yeah, see you. And I'll do that." It had been a good talk – considerably less obnoxious than Percy would have first guessed – but he was still worn out. He was glad to be done, and glad he could try to make up for earlier and go find Annabeth.

The boys went their separate ways, each lost in thought. Maybe tomorrow, Percy hoped. Tomorrow or even tonight, they would get their good news. And Leo could hoist his beloved trireme back into the sky.

* * *

><p>The McDonald's off a highway wasn't really Sadie's idea of a good place to eat. But it was still dinner, and after today she was too tired to complain (or even want to eat much, solving the problem automatically). San Francisco had been a dead end after all, and they'd spent three days scouring museums for nothing. With what they were facing – not to mention having to outrun police dogs <em>again<em> – this was no small problem.

"...So we'll get back to the hotel, and tomorrow morning we can make a portal." Sadie turned from the window to look at her brother, food still forgotten. Carter Kane was staring at her over the edge of his drink. "Hey. Are you even listening to me?"

Sadie shrugged, giving her food a disdainful glance before turning back to Carter. "Not really, honestly. Still rather stuck on our spectacular failure."

He sighed, and reached over to take her fries. Sadie clearly wasn't hungry. "I wouldn't call it _spectacular. _'Anticlimactic' might be more accurate. Or just 'depressing.' But I agree." Carter reached out again, this time for her McNuggets. "It's worrying."

Sadie only watched as her brother finished off her food. "So worrying that you've taken up binge eating?"

Carter glared, and his sister was tired enough that she didn't shoot off a reply. She looked out the window instead, following the cars as they whizzed past, wishing a bus would pull in already so they could at least get back out.

After just a few minutes, the food was almost gone, and Carter sighed. He rested his chin in his hands, elbows on the table. Not for the first time, Sadie noticed how tired he looked – it made him seem older than fifteen these days. "We need to have better luck next time." His voice was soft, but stung with determination. "There's really no room for failure."

His sister nodded, brows furrowed in thought. "Maybe if these other Nomes get with the whole 'end of the world' program," she replied darkly. "We had a hell of a time just getting to _see _the artifacts. Not that they were useful."

Carter no longer seemed to be listening, absently stacking their trash as he glanced out the booth's window. "We can see if there's anything we missed in our library," he said, almost under his breath. "More scrolls about Apophis, strong counter-spells maybe ..."

Sadie shook her head, and stood up. He wasn't even paying attention. "Throw that out, will you? I'm going to take a walk while we wait for the bus." She was tired, and dejected, and felt cramped and enclosed after sitting in a booth for even those few minutes.

Her brother blinked, returning to reality. "A walk? Where?"

Sadie shrugged, shouldering her bag and turning to go. "Just up the road. I need air." She tilted her chin slightly upward. "Especially now that I smell like a McDonald's." Carter rolled his eyes, but Sadie ignored him, striding away and pushing open the door. "I'll meet you in a bit." If Carter answered, she didn't hear him, already concentrating on getting as far from the restaurant as she could.

San Francisco weather was, admittedly, pleasant. Not too hot, not too wet, nice and airy. Sadie breathed deeply, even managing a small smile. They were still on a highway stop at the city limits, and afternoon traffic was still roaring by, but it was better than indoors.

Despite the nice weather, Sadie found that there wasn't much to see. The Caldecott Tunnel was fairly impressive, but only for all of ten seconds. All this place was, really, was asphalt and truckers and tired commuters. And two young magicians. There was probably _something _she could explore until a shuttle arrived, but Carter would have her head if she went out of his sight.

Making her way towards some service tunnels, Sadie determined it might just be too cruel to scare Carter right this second. Not while they were both disillusioned and exhausted, anyway. Even Sadie Kane had standards for this sort of thing.

She could still see her brother's silhouette in a window – good enough for her. Maybe there would be some graffiti on the concrete to admire.

What she hadn't expected was to get within ten feet of a service tunnel ... and immediately feel the most terrible urge to turn back.

This was no human gut feeling – Sadie knew those, and this curled around her very _ba _instead, warning and pressing. Sadie stopped dead, unconsciously preparing to reach for her wand. It would be just their luck, if some beast cornered them _now_.

But demons and gods were undetectable, unless they chose to be found. Looking around cautiously, Sadie couldn't place the magic she sensed. Besides the very clear warning, like a gesture without words. It was a language she didn't understand.

Curiosity got the better of her, and Sadie took several steps closer. The service tunnel was unassuming enough, cars were still passing by. But _something _was here, and it seemed like it was almost part of her world.

Almost.

"Alright," Sadie said aloud, finally holding out her wand. She was nervous, but simply on principle she tried not to let it show. "I'm not stupid. Don't play games with me." It was unwise to bluff, it was extra unwise to bluff in front of something she didn't understand. Carter would kill her, but she would risk it this time just to get this unnerving, intruding feeling out of her system.

For some moments, there was nothing but her and the sound of traffic.

Then (and as the Kanes would later muse, inevitably), all hell broke loose.

Sadie had been thrown off by the magic – so her attackers descended immediately, and awell-placed headbutt knocked the wind out of her, throwing her painfully into the asphalt.

Before she could even catch her breath, she found herself face-to-face with a Cyclopes.

Well, that was the first thought in Sadie's mind, between her struggle to catch her breath. A tall, bulky _thing_, wearing a bright orange t-shirt and sporting one large brown eye, was looming over her. In his hands was a thick wooden club, and he had raised it in an attempt to crack her ribs.

She managed to roll to one side before it made contact, and with a sickening _thud _the Cyclopes broke through the asphalt instead.

Sadie barely registered the fact that he seemed to have two eyes for a moment, his face swimming in front of her as she staggered and tried to register what she'd forgotten. But after it passed (and she could breathe again), she found her head and her magic.

Her first instinct was to get him down, weaken him so she could confront the brute properly. Sadie didn't want to deal with this – she wanted him so deep in the Duat he'd be stuck forever, whether Apophis won or not. She wasn't sure if Cyclopes even _came _from the Duat, but where else would he have come from, and why else would he be attacking her?

She thrust out her wand, and already a blue glow was forming. The most useful hieroglyph she could think of came to mind, and the shapes formed gracefully above her free hand.

"_Nii!_" A word for throwing, specifically for throwing your enemies. It was a favourite of hers, since she'd found it.

Blue magic threw the Cyclopes back violently, so strong that he slammed straight into a wall next to the tunnel. Sadie heard a satisfying _crack _from the concrete, and smiled.

"You dumb brute!" she taunted, taking a step closer and preparing another spell. "I have better things to do than deal with you, so let's make this quick!"

Her target stood up, wobbling slightly before straightening and focusing his eye on her. His t-shirt was now muddied and torn, and a bruise was welling on the side of his head.

He charged just as Sadie tried another spell – but the divine word choked in her throat as he made contact again, surprisingly quickly for someone his size. They hit the dirt, and she had to struggle away from him in an embarrassingly desperate effort. The Cyclopes glared. Then he spoke up; something Sadie hadn't expected from a monster like this.

"You will _not _hurt demigods," he snarled. "I will hit you with my stick instead!"

Demigods? Hurting demigods? Sadie didn't understand. She did, however, grasp the meaning of the second part quite well. She held out her left hand, ready to bring up another, half-desperate hieroglyph. This was not the time for this. She was alone, she was tired, she was not up to snuff. And Sadie Kane couldn't stand that kind of shame.

That was the moment when Carter shot past her with a yell, and cracked the Cyclopes across the face. With a McDonald's tray. A McDonald's tray that he'd still almost lost his hold of as he ran.

It wasn't an encouraging sight, since Carter had stumbled in his effort to get there quickly – and his weapon of choice was a _McDonald's tray_, something Sadie had to repeat to herself to make sure that, yes – that had just happened. He was looking decidedly unheroic, and it was only the Cyclopes' momentary confusion that gave Sadie another moment to collect herself.

"_Really_, Carter?" she shouted, trying to pull up another decent spell. "You're a _magician!_ And you decide to fight this thing with a bloody fast-food tray?"

Carter had drawn his _khopesh_, and a moment later had to roll to one side as the Cyclopes lunged. "I panicked, okay! I don't want you to spend this mission dead!"

Sadie managed a shield – _ikmem –_ something quick enough to get their target off his feet. "Magicians don't _panic_, you twit!" The Cyclopes scrambled back up, discouragingly quickly, and swung so hard at Carter that he could barely lift his blade to block the club.

Sadie rushed forward, but the Cyclopes finally seemed to have oriented himself. He shook her off like a bug, and to her horror she realized her stores of magic were already depleting. She exhaled, and cursed herself for forgetting even an amulet. Their enemy was stronger than she'd first guessed. And they were going to pay for it.

Carter and the Cyclopes duelled, Sadie weaving between and around them to support her brother and keep either from getting killed. A shield here, a glyph there, but only small spells, because she was already tired.

Carter lashed out fiercely, his teeth gritted in determination and rage as he swung and tried to keep the Cyclopes' strength at bay. This was the last thing he needed, Sadie knew - and now that he had some footing, he would take out every last frustration here, in this fight.

"I will knock you into the ground!" the Cyclopes shouted. "You will not hurt any more friends, little magicians!"

Carter swung wildly, and the Cyclopes roared, the _khopesh _catching his shoulder and drawing blood. "I don't know what you're talking about!" he shouted back. "And I'm _so _done with this!"

He turned at the wrong time then (Sadie would be cursing her reflexes for days, since she missed her chance to cover his mistake) and it was just enough leeway for the Cyclopes to get in a hit equal to the tray's. Unfortunately, Carter's skull was not as thick as his opponents – and his weapon had been much more pathetic.

With another _crack_, the club made contact – with the side of Carter's head. He dropped like a rock onto the pavement. Sadie couldn't help herself. She screamed.

She was going to lunge, let the rest of her adrenaline-fuelled anger out, but he grabbed her in the shocked moment between rage and terror for her brother. Caught off guard so deftly, Sadie actually slumped. Poor Carter. Poor stupid Carter, always getting it bad enough to be taken right out. She'd kill him later. If they were alive later.

"Stop moving," said the Cyclopes suddenly. "No struggling. I do not like hitting smaller people. Even if they are murderers."

Sadie blinked. She looked from him to Carter bleeding on the ground, and she couldn't quite wrap her head around how _they _were the murderers. "We're magicians," she growled. "We kill no one but demons. Demons like you, though I'll tell you Cyclopes things are news to me." She took a deep breath. "When you kill us proper, do make it quick and painless."

That just seemed to confuse him, and that surprised her. It almost put her off guard. "Only monsters are for killing. I won't decide what to do about crimes."

Sadie's eyes narrowed. "What crimes?"

The Cyclopes' eye turned dark. "Good demigods, brave ones, died because of you. Rogue magicians, crossing boundaries. Daddy's told me stories, but those things should be history."

She wanted to be confused, wanted to let herself stew on that insanity for just a second. This creature might not be the demon they'd thought (and it truly pained her to say that). But Carter was quite possibly dying in front of her, and Sadie _refused _to cope with that feeling again. Even if it meant losing more of her dignity. She took a deep breath.

"I'll tell you again: we're not murderers. I don't even know what a demigod is. I'm not sure I know what _you _are." She tried to squirm from the Cyclopes' grasp, but it was only when she tried that she realized that her exhaustion was bone-deep. She had to slump again, as he watched her with what must be a unique mix of contempt and confusion. His grip didn't change.

"If you don't kill anyone but monsters, then why don't you let me help my brother. Since you've laid him up so nastily."

He didn't move at first. "In Camp, people can fix him," the Cyclopes replied. "I only hit him enough for blood, so I could catch you. Demigods take worse."

Sadie mumbled something rather uncouth about said demigods, and the Cyclopes finally let her go, grumbling unhappily as he did. She stumbled towards Carter, felt for a pulse, made sure he was actually breathing to ease her horrible fear.

She almost punched him when he reached down, and slung Carter over his shoulder like he was a winter jacket. She really did punch him when he threw _her _over the other one, but all her half-hearted protest and wriggling did nothing to help her cause. This had to have been their worst fight since they started their training. Pathetic, and disheartening, and above all frightening.

They were going to camp, whatever camp was, with a Cyclopes. Carter had a concussion for a crime they hadn't committed. Like a man on a mission, their captor walked back through the service tunnel. Sadie was fairly sure they were going to die.

Which, of course, no longer mattered if it was really the case. If they were executed by apparently crazy demigods (with Sadie unable to escape; she'd never leave Carter), there would be nobody to stop Apophis, he would eat the sun, and everyone including demigods and Cyclopes would die anyway.

Sadie squeezed her eyes shut. She thought she'd known despair before, but throw that in with shame and exhaustion, and she had another beast entirely.

Gods help them.

* * *

><p>It was getting dark, and only now was Jason's day looking up.<p>

It hadn't occurred to him how much the Romans had missed him until he got back – a fact that was half due to memory loss, half his own fault for getting distracted by other things. Hazel had actually hugged him when he'd gotten home, and Frank, a boy he'd never even met, had been eager to see him. The attention had been a bit unnerving.

Reyna's coolness towards him hadn't been sorted out, but he thought he knew why (it was also why she and Piper had barely spoken). When Jason wasn't speaking seriously with the others, planning the task at hand, getting to know the Romans again ... he was treading lightly around relationships, mediating. He didn't think he was very good at it. Leo, to Jason's chagrin, agreed wholeheartedly.

So after all that, and after today's dismal news, it was relaxing to sit with someone friendly like Hazel, chatting about nothing and catching up. It was nice to get to know Frank, too, another member of the Fifth and someone Hazel thought very highly of. And more, Jason guessed, but he had the sense not to pry into it.

The three of them were sitting by the Little Tiber as the sun set, after dinner and before anything else serious had to be done.

Hazel and Frank were laughing; Jason was recounting another story for them from what Frank called his "Greek side quest." A more cheerful one than usual, given the nature of that day's meeting.

"-So we all look up," he said, a rare grin on his face, "And there's Leo, on this metal dragon's back – and he's pretty much having the time of his life. And after we all get over our abject terror? He says, 'I'm gonna name him Festus.'"

They laughed at that – the fierce dragon's head on the _Argo II_'s bow had once been named "Happy" in Latin. Even Hazel laughed, the girl who winced every time she saw or heard about Leo.

"I asked him if we were _really _going to save the world on a mecha beast named Happy the Dragon," Jason finished, "and he pretty much said yes. That's exactly what we were going to do."

Frank lifted his arms in the air, stretching. "Pretty much exactly what you did. Leo talks about that dragon like it was his kid."

"They were buddies – a lot of it was because Festus couldn't set Leo on fire, but they were actually, seriously-" Jason stopped. His expression changed suddenly, his face paling as he stood up. "What ..."

He didn't notice that Frank and Hazel hadn't seen what he had. He was too busy staring in horror.

There were several reasons to be horrified. One was that he knew Tyson was on guard by himself (something the Romans disapproved of as it was), and now of all times he'd left the camp undefended. The second thing was that his Camp Half-Blood shirt was muddied and torn, and there was blood on his face and clothes. He'd been in combat.

The third thing was the two figures he had a hold of, one slung over each shoulder like they weighed nothing. A tall boy was lying limp like a corpse, and his companion, a girl, had turned to look at them in fear and anger. She wasn't struggling, but it looked like she had been not long before.

"Jason! Hazel! Brother! I found them!" Tyson called, approaching the river. "I found killer magicians!"

Beside Jason, Hazel's face was ashen. He didn't blame her – this could very well be what Chiron had warned them of. "Killer magicians" could not be a good sign.

"Hazel," he said in a low, deadly voice. "Go get Percy, will you? And Reyna. I think our problem just got bigger."

She seemed reluctant to leave, but the look Jason gave her was sufficient to explain how vital this really was. Frank watched her go nervously, before turning back to Tyson. (Jason had learned that the "brother" thing disconcerted him a little, relation or not.)

"Tyson," Frank said carefully. "You're _sure _these are the things we got a letter about. Er, killer magicians."

Tyson nodded eagerly. The girl he was holding, however, managed to turn around and shout at them. The boys couldn't make out what she said, but they were still much closer now – Jason could make out the wild panic on the girl's face. Right now, however, he couldn't muster much compassion. Instead, he swore under his breath.

"From our end, we have _no _reason to believe you," he replied, lifting his chin and looking every bit Jupiter's son. "I hope you can do a damned good job proving that!"

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So I know there's a really, really, really big differences in Kane Chronicles readers on the site versus PJO ones (read: there are like 20,000 more PJO fics than Kane's 400 or so), and that this is a pretty obvious crossover series-wise, but I'm still really excited about sharing this with you guys. The characters are fun (even if they were all miserable this chapter) and the adventure is shaping up to be the same.<em>

_I've been doing a lot of research on the connections between these two mythologies, which inspired the initial idea for this – and as you'll find out, there's a lot of them. So that's something I'm looking forward to putting out. The thing my research failed spectacularly in is decent translations for the Egyptian languages. My current dictionary only gives me the short forms with the hieroglyphs, so it's basically guesswork for the divine word spellings in our alphabet. If anyone can help, please do!_

_I'll try to keep author's notes shorter from this point on, if they happen at all – there were just a few things to say here. I'll finish off by hoping you guys can drop some reviews (and criticism, if you'd like). Have a great day!_


	2. In Shock

The boy looming over Sadie was pallid and small – but his pale grey eyes were the most frightening she'd ever seen.

The demigod girl, Reyna, had cuffed her wrists and ankles. With something that must be preventing magic; as a result, she couldn't leave, and her face had twisted into a glower to hide anything else she might be feeling. (Like, to her disgust, fear.)

She'd been told they'd be back, and to stay put, ignoring her demands about Carter and leaving her in what must have been a temple, instead. Hardly a minute after the boy and girl had left her, this new boy had appeared. And he'd been much angrier.

"You're just a sick Greek trap, _magician_, I know you are," he hissed, waving his knife in front of her face. "This is all happening too fast to be anything else. Why else would that Cyclopes bring you alive? You should've been killed on sight."

Sadie's eyes narrowed. In the boy's other hand, he held a teddy bear by its foot – all over the temple's altar, there were several more he seemed to have dismembered.

What the hell was wrong with this camp?

"I'll tell you again," Sadie said, gritting her teeth. "I might be a magician, but I'm no murderer. I don't even know what a demigod _is_, because _no one will tell me a thing_. Get what I'm saying here?" Sadie's eyes were fierce and demanding. "We don't know what's happening."

He pressed the flat edge of the knife lightly against her throat. His eyes were cold, and they held nothing but contempt. "I'll tell you, too: I think you're a liar, and-"

"_Octavian_."

He and Sadie both looked up, and Sadie caught the changes in him right away. The boy straightened up, stepping away with a slick, easy smile. He held his knife to his chest, well away from Sadie.

"There's a prisoner in my temple, Reyna."

"So I'm aware," the girl replied coolly. She glanced at Sadie, then turned to her companion – a dark-skinned girl this time, who'd been there when the Cyclopes brought them. Close up, she looked about Sadie's age. "Hazel, unlock her ankles. Let her stretch."

Sadie didn't even let the girl get close before she spoke up. "Where's my brother?"

Reyna ignored her. Her eyes, and their anger, were trained on Octavian. "Your first thought was to snarl like a dog, and threaten her? How can we get her to cooperate if you-"

"-I wouldn't cooperate whether he bothered me or not!"

The girl untying her looked up sharply. "Never mind," she hissed. Sadie was so surprised she really did shut up, and Reyna turned her glare back to Octavian. "Your brother's in the infirmary. He'll be okay." Her voice was low enough for the others not to notice.

Well, that was new. This girl almost seemed _nice_. Not that Sadie was about to let her guard down for the enemy, of course.

"As I was saying." Reyna folded her arms. "She's irritating enough. I guess I appreciate your eagerness to participate, but this is a bit much. An augur should know better."

Octavian's cheeks flushed. Sadie glowered.

"What did I tell you about Greeks bearing gifts?" he shot back. Walking to his altar, he laid down the knife and bear. "This is a trick, a plant! You said so yourself."

Sadie heard Reyna exhale deeply, but her view was subdued by Hazel reaching out to pull her to her feet (Sadie's wrists were still tied – she couldn't stand up herself).

"I told you why that wasn't the case. They're no more a trick than the _Argo II_. And that makes them a true threat."

Sadie couldn't reply, because Hazel's hand shot out to cover her mouth before she could. And Hazel, evidently, was stronger than she looked. She considered biting, or kicking, but they'd never let her see Carter like that. Besides, she was still so tired. Hazel had shown her an ounce of kindness, in any case – Sadie didn't really _want _to bite her.

Octavian took several seconds to reply. "I seek only the interests of Rome, Reyna, just like you. And I will not rest my suspicions unless clear evidence is shown to me." He turned to his altar, and gazed above them at Jupiter's massive statue. "Of course, the only way to decide what to do about this is to ask the gods themselves."

Reyna nodded. "That, I can accept," she replied. "But not yet." Octavian's face fell. "The boy still has to wake up, and then these two can _try_ to explain themselves." She turned her fierce gaze on Sadie again, and her eyebrows rose when she saw the hold Hazel had her in. "That's the Roman way, not senseless death. Or torment."

"But-"

"I don't have time for this," she snapped. Her patience must have been waning. Frankly, Sadie couldn't blame her. "I'm warning you, Octavian. I know this is a difficult time, for all of us, but don't throw _fides _aside because you're angry. I'm also angry."

Hazel finally moved her hand away. For several seconds, there was a silence.

Octavian paused. Then his expression twisted back into that cold smile. "I wouldn't dream of it, Reyna." He glanced at Sadie again, and inwardly, she shivered. "I'm sure soon you'll have completed your ... questioning. I'll be happy to see their fate." He turned away, to gaze up at the statue of Jupiter. He looked every bit the pious young Roman.

Reyna nodded curtly, then turned to Hazel. "Take the girl to the infirmary. Maybe her brother's woken up."

Sadie spoke up then. "He'd better have woken up! Your people tried to kill him!"

From the altar, Octavian laughed harshly. "Not _our _people, girl."

Sadie blinked, but nobody explained – not that she expected explanations at this point. Hazel, looking more than a little bit nervous, turned to go, holding Sadie's wrists. "I'll ... meet you there, Reyna."

Reyna had her eyes trained on Octavian. "Be careful, Hazel."

They turned to go, but Sadie kept her mouth closed until they were on the temple steps.

"Some demigod you've got running your ceremonies," she muttered, just loud enough for Hazel to hear. Octavian had scared her more than anyone else that night. He was two-faced. Did Reyna realize that? She had to.

"Octavian's not a demigod," Hazel said quietly. Sadie blinked – she hadn't expected an answer, much less a legitimate one. "He's a legacy, so he's descended from a god, but he's not a real half-blood. But there are plenty of decent legacies in New Rome," she added.

More questions that needed answering. Sadie sighed. "I think you've just confused me even more." Sadie was _starting _to get a picture of what a demigod might be, but her ideas all seemed a little unfeasible. (Gods couldn't associate with mortals that much, could they? And anyway, what gods?)

"When your brother wakes up, we'll talk." Hazel hadn't once mentioned that Sadie was convicted. And it wasn't as if Sadie had been making a show of seeming harmless.

After a moment, Sadie spoke up again. The girl's kindness deserved something, didn't it? "My name's Sadie Kane," she said softly. "My brother's Carter. You might as well know."

Hazel actually smiled. "Hazel Levesque. 'Sadie Kane' has a nice ring to it, though."

Sadie considered trying to fight again (half-heartedly, if she was perfectly honest), but whatever curse was on these things was holding fast. They really did still have her, and her magic. At least they were taking her back to Carter.

And to this place's credit (not counting Octavian), they hadn't killed them yet. This Hazel girl was even kind, a trait Sadie valued. The House of Life, she noted dryly, could take a lesson in that from Camp Jupiter.

* * *

><p>"Percy."<p>

He was sitting on the bank of the river, his legs submerged to his knees. Slouched over like he was, his hair was almost touching the water.

"Give me a minute. I just need a minute."

Just a minute, or five, or the rest of the night, to deal with this crap. That was all. He was pretty sure that was all.

Frank looked entirely distressed, and he reached out to give Percy a gentle shake. Just to get rid of him, he made the water around him rumble – and the little threat worked, getting Frank to take a few steps back.

"You can't just sit here and sulk. There are murderers in the camp."

"I'm sulking _because _there are murderers in the camp. I'm out, Frank. This is crazy."

To Percy's annoyance, Frank swallowed his fear and reached out again, pulling him back by the shoulders. He was completely dry, of course, but he still didn't stand up. "I _said_ I need a minute."

Frank's voice hardened, just a little. "A minute's up, buddy."

Percy sighed, pressing his palms into his eyes and staying that way for several long seconds. "I can't believe it. Insanity. I was hoping it'd blow over, but-"

"Get up, Seaweed Brain."

He dropped his palms and looked up. One thing was for sure – her timing was flawless. Frank took a relieved step back, and not just because he would never have convinced Percy. They'd all been worried about Annabeth. Evidently, though, she'd calmed down and knew what she had to do next. Grover wasn't far behind, staring at Percy on the ground and the empathy link humming with questions.

Percy sighed. Going into shock had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Annabeth held out her hand. "As soon as the guy Tyson found wakes up, we need to talk to him and his sister. And you're not just gonna sit here and sulk while we do. Since when have you given up being a hero before?"

Still reluctantly, Percy took it, pulling himself up. "No promises on my ability to interrogate," he said dully.

Annabeth sighed. "Let's go. It's getting dark."

Frank and Grover looked at each other. They were forgotten, of course.

"They're brother and sister?" the satyr whispered.

Frank shrugged. "I guess. I don't know any more than you do."

Ahead of them, Percy had put his arm around Annabeth, if only to reassure her. He hoped it reassured her, anyway.

Even Percy Jackson had a limit, and all of this at once was pressing on it hard.

* * *

><p>Carter Kane was hearing voices.<p>

At first, all he could figure was that he must be dreaming – but magicians never dreamt of normal things like distant people and conversations.

It took him another minute to remember why he had a pounding headache, before it all came back and his eyes flew open. He found his sister leaning over him.

"About time!" Sadie cried. The relief was obvious on her face, and her fingers had curled around the edge of Carter's sheets. His senses still hazy, he noticed then that his hand was _cuffed _to the bed – wherever the Cyclopes had taken them, he'd made sure they stayed captive.

The Cyclopes, of course, was here too. He was sitting beside the bed, opposite Sadie, wearing clean clothes and apparently on guard. But that, surprisingly, was not his biggest concern. (He actually seemed to be asleep, and snoring.)

Carter gave Sadie a glance, but he didn't answer at first, or even acknowledge that he'd noticed their enemy. He was staring at his right hand, stretching his fingers outward as much as the cuff allowed. "They ... blocked our magic?" His voice was soft with surprise.

His sister made a face, holding up her own bound wrists. "It's called imperial gold. A kid named Jason told me." Jason must have behaved himself – Sadie didn't sound like she wanted to spit on him. "They were just using it to hold us, but it turns out it reacts to our magic."

Carter closed his eyes. Anger was welling up in him again, and it wasn't much helping the pain. "Explain later, Sadie? My head's killing me."

"We don't have time for that, Carter Kane." He realized then that he and Sadie weren't alone – these were the voices he'd heard earlier. A girl near the door had spoken up, and from the look on Sadie's face, she'd dealt with her already. A tall, blonde boy stood next to her, but he was quiet. Both were wearing purple "Camp Jupiter" t-shirts – and two shining, metal greyhounds sat at their feet, their bright red eyes on Carter and his sister.

He wondered how she knew his name, but Sadie had been awake. He didn't think too hard about her blurting it to the enemy.

"Your appearance near our camp was badly timed, and explanations are in order from both sides." The girl's cold gaze fell on Sadie, whose eyes narrowed right back. "Your sister has tried to defend you both, but I can't know yet if her ignorance is a ruse."

Carter gave the two a long look. Both had the look of a commander - tired and solemn. It didn't stop the girl's eyes from piercing him for an answer, though. He had no reason not to oblige. "How will you find out? Besides our word, anyway."

The boy (Carter figured he was Jason) looked at his companion, then at Carter. "Reyna's dogs know when a person is lying." As if on cue, the silver one growled. "And you really don't want them to hear you lying."

"Well, good," Sadie retorted. "Because I haven't lied since I got into this bloody camp."

Reyna's face curled into what was almost a smile. "Not in front of Aurum and Argentum, you haven't. But Jason and I would like you to wait until the others get here, so that-"

"We didn't kill your demigods," Sadie snarled. "Like I already said, you haven't given us any evidence _why _we could have, beyond being magicians. Can you take these cuffs off now?"

Reyna sighed, then looked down at her pets. Argentum was still growling softly, but neither had stirred at Sadie's declaration. Aurum looked up at their mistress, almost expectantly. Jason raised his eyebrows, and he was nearly apologetic when he looked at Carter. (Well, he must have looked pitiful, cuffed to a cot with a head injury.)

Carter relaxed right away, glancing sideways at his sister. She'd folded her arms across her chest, and she wasn't even trying to hide her triumph. Sadie didn't seem to realize how anticlimactic that had been - even through his headache Carter was wondering if that was it.

"I guess there was no need to waste gold on handcuffs," Jason said, giving the siblings another long look. Reyna ignored him, moving to the right side of Carter's bed in silence. She must have had a key, because he heard a lock _click_, and mentally the gate holding his magic swing open. It was a huge relief, and it must have showed, because Reyna was rolling her eyes as she turned away.

"You forgot someone," Sadie called, holding up her hands again and frowning spectacularly at Reyna. For the moment, she was ignored.

Sadie, Carter mused, must have been _very _demanding before he came to. That, at least, was a familiar occurrence. (He was actually proud of her for it, this time. It was better than he was doing.)

"You're not safe yet," Reyna said calmly, not looking at Sadie. "We need to consult the Auguries, and _that _will decide whether you get to live."

"The Auguries?" Sadie froze. "Like that augur bloke? Teddy bear serial killer?"

Jason hid his face; Carter realized that he must be laughing. If he hadn't felt so terrible, Carter might have laughed too. He was going to want "teddy bear serial killer" explained to him, and soon.

Reyna looked daggers at Sadie. "Yes. He'll read what the gods choose to do with you."

Sadie and Carter shared a look, and with it she passed a silent warning to him. She must have already met this augur, and he must have left a bad impression. Worse, even, than Reyna.

After a moment, Carter took a deep breath, forcing himself to sit up. Sadie looked ready to protest, but he shook his head – she'd done plenty, and he was getting annoyed at these people seeing him laid up. He did follow the path of Horus, after all, and they had a lot of pride. Even if his head still ached.

"In that case, my sister and I want to find out soon. If our lives are still on the line and all."

Jason straightened up. "We're waiting on a few people. They wanted to contact their camp, since the ... you know, the incident happened in Manhattan; it's near there. You guys have territory nearby, maybe?"

Carter's eyes widened. Sadie threw her hands in the air, clearly disgusted that only now were they getting information, and looking to her brother to be validated.

Carter hardly noticed, because he was remembering Amos' warning. Of why not to visit Manhattan. _"Other gods."_ The winged horse he'd glimpsed there from Brooklyn House had meant something after all.

"Nice to know that _now_," Sadie was saying. "_I_ could've told you we haven't been in New York for a week!" He barely registered her.

Eventually, Carter came to his senses again, giving their captors (if he could still call them that) his own long, hard look. Finally, he managed a bleak smile.

"Someone told us once there were other gods in Manhattan," he said, now thinking hard on what this had really meant. "We stick to Brooklyn – and we've never had a good reason to cross over. But I always wondered what was there."

There were voices in the hallway, getting closer – the dogs growled, Jason went out to see who it was, and Carter finally began piecing this together. He couldn't blame Sadie for avoiding it, given her situation, but now he was getting something of a picture.

He noticed the "Camp Jupiter" on Reyna's shirt again, just as Jason opened the door again for two other kids to walk in. By the way Sadie side-eyed the two, she didn't recognize them.

"Camp Jupiter," Carter said, mostly to himself. "Other gods in Manhattan ... Camp Jupiter can only mean Roman gods."

The others stared at him. Sadie sighed, turning away to glare at the new arrivals – and holding up her still-cuffed wrists again. The blonde girl, the one who'd only just walked in, raised her eyebrows.

"Well ... at least I know you've got a decent head on your shoulders," Reyna said finally. "Camp Jupiter honours the Roman gods, yes. But as of recently, that's ... changed. Somewhat."

Behind her, a black-haired boy was exchanging an odd look with the girl. Jason had finally gone forward to release Sadie from her confinement, and she was looking daggers at anyone who might have had something to do with the cuffs.

"Any reason that took so bloody long?" She rubbed her wrists, her cheeks flushed with annoyance. Her eyes were on Reyna. Tactfully, Jason ignored her. Everyone's eyes were on Carter again, and he felt unnervigly like some unique creature on display.

The dark-haired boy, about Jason's height, spoke up. "Greco-Roman is a better word as of ... I dunno, two weeks ago, I think." Carter's eyebrows shot up, but the boy - in an orange "Camp Half-Blood" shirt - only shrugged, like that was the best he could do. "It's a long story."

"Percy," Reyna said suddenly. "Maybe this should wait until Octavian finds us with his results."

She glanced at Carter; he straightened up, his eyes narrowing. If the results were bad (of whatever the augur did to find out) he wouldn't be able to protect his sister. So it simply couldn't happen.

"Probably for the best, if we still might die," Sadie said dryly. "Really, now, if you don't just let us leave, there are going to be major problems for the _world_."

Tact had never been his sister's strong suit. Reyna gave his sister another dark glare. "It's no easier for us, Sadie Kane. Trying to solve our problem, then having _your kind _fall into the mix. I didn't know Greek gods existed until very recently – now I have to deal with Duats and magicians, too."

That only set Sadie off, and she opened her mouth. But Carter beat her to it.

"My sister and I can explain all of this stuff to you, if you'll let us," he said. "The Duat is the realm of Egypt's gods. Magicians are ... involved with the gods." Involved was a good word, for now.

More stares. Percy cleared his throat, glancing out the doorway before turning back to the blonde girl he'd come with. "Annabeth, you're surenone of this in your books?"

The blonde girl – now Carter had a name to her face – shook her head. Her eyes were on the Kanes, studying them. Like she was trying to see the difference.

"All I know is what was in Chiron's letter. But Rachel said she'd check the books at home for me to make sure," she added. "But I doubt we'll get much, especially through an Iris Message. Providing they're allowed to send another, of course." Somehow Carter figured the loss of Iris Messages (whatever they were) was their fault, too.

"Let's hope there's something," Percy replied, rubbing his temples. He glanced sidelong at the Cyclopes, still fast asleep.

"That Reyna girl told me his name is Tyson, Carter," Sadie said, as if it mattered to him that the monster had a name. She leaned back in her chair and looked daggers at said Cyclopes, for about the fifth time since he'd woken up.

"That thing has a name?" He gave it another sideways look too – still fast asleep.

Right away, Percy and Annabeth straightened up. Carter was actually surprised at their reaction.

"Don't talk about my brother like that," Percy said, giving him a hard look. Then he turned back to Annabeth, to whisper something else. (Carter decided then that she must be girlfriend.)

Carter had several questions about that, and he was sure Sadie did too – why this demigod had a monster brother, why "demigod" still hadn't been fully explained, and why a beast would want to apologize to him were first on the list.

Sadie had opened her mouth to reply, but Carter would never know how she'd react. There was a crash, a shout, and a skinny, Latino-looking kid skidded into the doorway. He was panting, and he looked absolutely blown away by _something_. (Thankfully or not, it didn't seem to be because of him or Sadie.)

"Leo ... ?"

The boy didn't give Jason time to finish his question. "There's an Olympian in camp," he said breathlessly. "These two sped up the decision process or something. So he's gonna tell us what's going on."

Sadie jumped up right away, and the outburst had woken Tyson the Cyclopes – who looked ready to throw her back into the chair in some kind of dream-addled frenzy. Percy noticed first, to Carter's relief.

"Go back to sleep, Tyson. Long day." He turned back to Sadie. "You're gonna have to come out, since it's pretty much life or death." Tyson looked grateful for the rebate, if a bit put out that he wouldn't get to see what's going on. He settled back into his chair, his eye still on the Kanes.

"Try not to kill them," he told Percy seriously. "They might not be evil."

Sadie didn't reply to Percy after Tyson's reassurance (if they could call it that), only pulling back Carter's blanket and sharing a sharp look with him. He knew then how angry she was; silencing Sadie Kane was no easy task.

Carter stood up a bit shakily, overhearing Jason and the kid who'd just come in as he did.

"Which god, though?"

"Hell if I know. Just hurry up!"

The not-so-helpful Leo rushed back outside after that, leaving the rest to follow. Tyson watched after him, skepticism all over his face. Carter managed to ignore it, and even ignored how _smart_ the Cyclopes looked now that he was out of battle.

The demigods were all on the run; Sadie was pulling at his arm so that he'd move faster. Carter did his best, but he still lagged behind. A concussion, he figured, was a good enough excuse.

He didn't let on what he'd decided about Romans (and Greeks, he had to suppose): they must be crazy to let their gods roam free.

* * *

><p>No, <em>damn <em>it. No, no, no.

The gods were not on his side tonight.

Not for the first time, Octavian wondered if he could lie about the Auguries. But he feared the gods' wrath more than he hated Greeks or magicians (or Jason Grace).

He looked at his altar again. The entrails didn't lie – these magicians would, unfortunately, get to live, provided they spoke the truth to the others. Looking up at Jupiter's great statue, he prayed Reyna's greyhounds would get to tear them apart.

Octavian sighed, setting down his knife and picking up the bear. It was time to find his praetors.

* * *

><p>They'd all tried to run out at once when Leo brought the news – it was fairly unceremonious, with four demigods scrambling into the courtyard outside the infirmary (and Sadie Kane a few metres behind, keeping her slightly woozy brother steady.)<p>

When they got there, at least twenty Romans were already kneeling before a figure. Several Greeks, crew from the _Argo II_,were gawking some feet away. Standing on the grass was Hermes, god of messengers and trade.

Hermes _or _Mercury, actually, because to Percy his image flickered confusedly. Like he couldn't decide whom he needed to be, now that he was in the presence of both sides.

Reyna kneeled too; Percy paid her no mind, having gotten used to the formal ways of Romans. He also glimpsed the Stolls staring at their father, but Hermes only gave his children an acknowledging glance before he turned to the others.

"On the bright side, now I've got something to do," Hermes said to him, smiling grimly. He seemed to have taken his original form; dark curls framing an elfish face. But it still wavered uncomfortably, and Percy tried to ignore it. "You're forgiven for not fetching my children, by the way."

He remembered that request with a jolt – but it wasn't like Percy had had time to escort young demigods, what with surviving Hera's scheme being a priority.

"I would if I could," he replied, "but I ended up with bigger problems. Like I'm sure you're here to expand on."

Everyone's eyes were on him, and Percy swallowed hard in the god's initial silence.

"Exactly right," Hermes said, taking a graceful step up – onto the air, whereupon he carefully _walked_ over the kneeling Romans and set back down in front of Percy. He didn't even blink, landing gracefully like he'd only descended some stairs. Neither did Percy, who folded his arms across his chest in expectation.

There was a heavy silence. Martha the snake hissed a soft greeting from the cadeuceus, and the god's eyes swept the camp, before falling on the two magicians hovering behind the others and staring harder than the rest. Sadie, of course, glared; her brother swayed uneasily, though his gaze remained steady.

Finally, Hermes turned back to Percy, his expression unreadable. "I'm here about those two, of course. The Olympians called an emergency council last night, and after _this _happened down here, we set conditions for the Egyptians right away. Has your augur found the Roman verdict?"

Even Hermes called them Egyptians. Just how much magic was a mystery to demigods, and how long had it been in the first place?

At that, Reyna addressed him. "No," she said, "we're still waiting on him. Will it affect your decision?" Nothing about her seemed nervous. All Percy saw was someone looking for answers. It impressed him – gods weren't to be trifled with.

Hermes only shrugged. "Not really, though the House of Life politely asked for them back with a threat on a cursed scroll. This is the bigger picture, and I thought I'd let you know before you had to do any killing."

Percy felt an uneasiness in his gut at that. As much trouble as they'd caused, the magicians had proven themselves truthful. And completely ignorant of demigods. He didn't _trust _them, exactly, but there couldn't be anyone he knew but Octavian who'd want them killed on the spot. Demigods knew too well the value of life.

He looked up at Hermes, expression questioning. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sadie easing her way closer, actually elbowing past a surprised Annabeth as she tried for a better look. Carter had finally sat down, looking utterly exhausted, on a cedar stump.

Hermes cleared his throat, and to Percy's surprise, his form really did change. He heard gasps, and realized the fierce young man now before him must be Mercury. A disciplined, sharp messenger.

"The verdict of Olympus is this," he said briskly, eyes on the magicians. "The House of Life has one week to apologize formally with sacrifices and offerings, in the old way. Since they've also shown that they clearly can't control their people, their recent work with the gods must end. We demand that they dissolve, or leave society entirely."

Well ... Olympians were harsh. That he knew already. Percy dared a glance at the siblings – Carter's face was ashen, and he was standing up again with eyes narrowed. Sadie, for once, looked like she didn't know how to respond. Hermes/Mercury cleared his throat.

"The gods – dangerous old ones, what were they thinking? - will re-enter their realm permanently." There was a shout of protest from Sadie; the god continued without a hitch. "As for these two ... if Camp Jupiter allows it, they can be collected."

In an instant, he was pure Hermes again, looking a little unhappy with the transition. "I don't really like that form," he said to Percy. "Too formal since the Empire fell. This one is better."

Percy didn't expect Carter to speak up, and almost jumped when he realized the kid was right beside him. Hermes met his gaze impassively, his eyebrows raised.

"What happens if we don't meet your conditions?" Carter asked, and Percy realized a new quality had entered his voice. Fighting spirit, maybe. Impressive, for a guy who'd just been down with a head injury. "Because we're not going to."

Hermes smiled. There was nothing humourous about it. "Then we'll have to get violent, of course. That's the way it goes."

Percy felt that like a punch in the gut. A war? A war was the last thing they needed. They were already fighting one, and godly conflict was horrific. The thought of two pantheons in battle made him shudder.

This was why even Percy couldn't fault Octavian's timing.

The augur crested the hill, still in his toga – and when he saw Hermes, and the bowing Romans, he nearly tripped over the hem of it trying to prostrate the most honourably.

"Lord of Olympus," he stammered, "You- you need to hear my verdict as well, correct?" His ceremonial teddy was lying next to him, and Octavian reached out to pull it back.

Percy had to give Hermes credit, because his composure never wavered. From years of dealing with admirers, probably. "What is it, then?"

Octavian stood up, a little shaky, and held up the teddy. "They ... get to live." He sounded extremely unhappy with this outcome. "We can kick them out or let them stay, but Jupiter's marked them harmless."

Hermes raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Did he? They must be truthful."

"Of course we are!" Carter said suddenly. "But 'harmless' is pushing it."

Percy also had to give the Kanes credit, because they seemed completely unafraid of celestial beings. It was big talk, coming from a guy who looked like he would keel over any second.

"Of course," Hermes said dryly. "You follow Horus. I know all about him."

Carter's eyes widened. "How do you-?"

"You can blame Ptolemy Soter." Hermes turned back to Percy, as if the interruption had never happened. "Well, that was my message. Do try to get them to comply, won't you?"

Percy nodded. He remembered then that one of the murdered demigods had been a son of Hermes – and Hermes did love his children. How, exactly, was he feeling right now?

He was sure Carter would have something new to say, in that strange new voice of his. Or Sadie would, since she'd proved herself nothing if not vocal. Before they could – since the whole night had relied on interruptions – Hermes had gone.

The Romans began to stand up, muttering among themselves; Carter found a tree to lean against. Everyone else was looking at Percy. Even Jason and Reyna seemed expectant. Octavian was already scrambling back over the hill, intent on escaping quickly.

"So now what?"

Will Solace finally spoke up, from where the other Greeks were standing.

Percy looked utterly exhausted. His voice fell back into a strained softness. "We're all going to bed, and we'll deal with it in the morning. Goodnight."

Then he turned around and left, Annabeth and Grover close behind. The others were left to deal with the Kanes.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: So I'm finally through ironing out the kinks in this chapter! I think, anyway – I don't like it as much as the last one. Also, I wish I could just write Octavian forever, he's the most fun thing about this part. Such a two-faced rat bastard, I love him.<em>

_As always, I welcome feedback! I feel like parts of this are a bit awkward, with all of these characters trying to have roles. Never fear, we'll get back to the action soon enough. I'm going to try and keep two weeks or so as the maximum time between updates, too, so I hope that's not too long. I'm just a busy person right now, what with applying to art school and graduating senior year and such. Hope you liked the read!_


	3. Alexandria's Secret

Percy felt sorry for every demigod who dreamed often – especially in the unfortunate times that it happened to him.

Wherever he was, the air was making him nauseous, and a sinking feeling of _wrongness _was clutching at his chest as he tried to get his bearings and look around.

The ground lurched, but Percy kept his footing. His hands found a railing in front of him, shaking slightly – and that was when he realized that this dark place was starting to form into something or somewhere and that part of it was him standing on a boat. Below it was a shadowy river, more like tar than water.

He looked up again. From the railing of his vessel, Percy could see Mount Olympus; not the Empire State Building - the mountain peak.

Percy's eyebrows furrowed, and he stared at it for a full few seconds. Was this part of the Underworld? Tartarus? Why would Olympus be _here_, if that was the case?

Like every dream, this was going to be terrible.

As the nausea subsided (to his relief, it seemed possible to get used to the place), his head swam less and he could take in his surroundings. There were buildings on the riverbanks - that he passed without trouble - and animal-headed guards who ignored him entirely.

The boat lurched to a stop again. And Gaea's voice rang through his head.

Percy felt the sickness come rushing back, a lump of fear settling in his chest and his throat going dry. Maybe this was really the Doors of Death, maybe the earth goddess was ready early after their little distraction. And he was the first to go after her long sleep.

"Relax, Percy Jackson," she said smoothly. "I just want to talk."

Her tone of voice was surprising. It put him on guard even more.

"There is a problem. You'll notice I can do nothing but speak."

Finally, Percy replied. He was frightened, yes - but he'd never been one to cower. "Where's Nico?" he asked, his voice much stronger than he felt. "What in the gods' names is going on, Gaea?"

The goddess laughed harshly, and Percy felt something else in this place shift. He was someone who'd dealt with a lot of wrongness. So the fact that he knew that nothing could be more wrong than this event, this moment … that was no small feat.

"Nothing we can fix," she hissed. "I suppose I just want to scare you with knowledge. It's entertainment, if you will, since I'm _still _trapped. At least this will get rid of you for me, without any work on my part. Of course," she added, "My children will go the same way."

Percy swallowed hard. "Then prepare me," he said, straightening up and focusing hard on Olympus' peak.

"Eager, aren't we? Are you sure? I know you gods and mortals need their prophecy leash."

She was taunting him now; she had to be. That wasn't how it worked.

"Tell me," he said finally. He hated to be at her mercy – but she couldn't hurt him, not if she was telling the truth.

Right?

Gaea paused. "The two domains aren't supposed to meet again. You shouldn't be able to walk the Duat. I shouldn't be trapped and awake at once. The Olympians will be declaring war in a week, and when that happens, this place will fold on itself."

She was cut off by a low, terrifying growl. Percy looked in its direction abruptly, and Gaea began to laugh again. "The other side's caged monster. He has no mind to speak of, not like my children. But he's useful enough. He would help my ends if the prophecies weren't … well. It is problematic."

It was difficult to piece this together right now, when it all came with his hatred of her and his fear of this place. Percy's eyes narrowed. "You can't stop a prophecy."

"I'd call it on hold," Gaea replied, "rather than stopped. Of course, when that happens, we gods don't function well. I can't kill, I can't possess, I can't _sleep_, and when the war starts neither will you or those others."

Who were the _others_?

"Shut up," Percy said sharply.

He could just feel Gaea's black smile. "Enjoy your week, demigod. Yours will be a slow, unfortunate death."

Percy couldn't reply, because just as quickly as she'd come Gaea's voice disappeared, and so did the rumble of the second beast. The boat lurched forward, far too quickly, and this time Percy really did stumble. He heard shadowy waves smashing against it, stronger every second.

He stared into the dark, thick river, it boiling like hot tar around the bow of the boat. That was when he saw the two long hands and the frightening face in the waves. They raced towards him, and Percy could swear that they clawed at his face and he screamed.

Then he woke up. Thank the gods.

Percy sat up, almost bumping his head on the top bunk, and crawled out of bed. He could swear that his legs were shaking – so he was grateful when he didn't see anyone else in the barrack. Better they not see the praetor wake up in terror.

"Percy!"

He jumped in spite of himself at a loud rap on the door. "Yeah?"

"Come to breakfast!" Tyson sounded eager – he was always eager about breakfast, though. "There is bacon and Kool-Aid! You need to get out of bed!"

Percy sighed, and ran a nervous hand through his hair. He wouldn't be bringing a pleasant story to the table that morning.

* * *

><p>Sadie was being unusually quiet, considering the current situation. Right now, it was mostly because she hadn't eaten since yesterday - now she had a plate of pancakes in front of her, and no cuffs around her wrists. It took a lot of self-awareness to remember she had to keep up <em>some<em> appearance, and eat at a normal speed.

She'd already noticed that Carter wasn't doing the same, seeing as he was already on a third helping and pretty much just wolfing it down. Brothers.

At least it meant he could pretend not to notice these demigods staring at them over their forks, pairs of eyes from the Fifth Cohort warily following their movements. Sadie was glaring at all of them right back (except maybe Hazel, who was to her left and had invited them for breakfast to begin with).

"So," Hazel said finally. Sadie's fork stopped in midair, and she turned to look at the other girl. "How are ... what do you think of Camp Jupiter so far?"

Frank, sitting across from them, coughed nervously. Sadie raised her eyebrows.

"Well," Sadie said dryly, "We were just kidnapped, your gods might go to war with us for something that's not even our _fault_, and you're all still staring with dropped jaws everywhere I walk. So I'd reckon that I don't like it all, but at least these pancakes are quite good. Thanks for asking."

Hazel blushed, looking down at her food – right away, Sadie felt just slightly bad for embarrassing her.

Carter put down his fork. "Forget it, Sadie. Don't make this any worse."

His sister was about to make another retort – but everyone's head turned when the door to the mess opened instead. Sadie didn't get to make her reply, since Percy Jackson, looking very tired and sporting a serious bedhead, entered the room. Close behind him was Tyson, who bounded in to fill up another plate with food. (He'd been here already, so Sadie wasn't pleased to see him back again.)

Percy avoided Sadie's eyes, but he took the spot across from Carter and took a plate. There was a weighted silence in the room; Sadie was grateful that all eyes were on him now instead of on _them_, and the tone of the whispers changed.

Frank was the one brave enough to speak up. "So you're up a little late," he said lamely. Sadie, not for the first time, was appalled by just how bad these people were at getting to the _point _of things_._

Percy shrugged, taking a pancake. "I had a dream. Where's Annabeth?"

A heavy silence fell over the table, and by extension the rest of the mess, making for a rather odd feeling in the air. The Kanes looked up abruptly, which got Percy's attention, which Sadie immediately regretted. Magicians knew all about important dreams – evidently, so did demigods.

"Annabeth's been researching ... whatever Mercury told us last night," Frank managed, after a moment. He and Hazel shared a glance. "And Jason left earlier. Can it wait?"

"This stuff can never wait, man," Percy said tiredly. "Especially not now. The magician problem is worse than we thought."

Sadie narrowed her eyes. And she'd thought the suspicion had been dying down, just a bit. She'd hoped, at least. "Well, _excuse _me," she interjected. "Very sorry you kidnapped us and now we're a problem, but-"

"Sadie, shut up." To her surprise, Carter cut her off, glaring. "Dreams are a huge deal for us, too," he said to Percy. "Warnings. And if it has to do with us, we want to hear."

Actually, Sadie couldn't care less about what demigods dreamed, especially while she was offended. She shrugged.

Percy sighed. "I spoke to Gaea."

Immediately, the whispers started again, and this time Sadie could feel in them a real current of their fear. Hazel looked completely terrified. Gaea must be a big, scary deal to the demigods, which confused Sadie, since she thought of Gaea the earth goddess as a middle-aged lady in tampon commercials. Not terribly threatening.

Carter looked thoughtful. "Gaea is ... the Greek earth goddess," he said slowly. "She must not be a friend of yours."

Percy nodded. "She's slowly waking up, to avenge her children. Long, complicated story, but right now she's stuck again. She's been put off track."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Hazel asked weakly. Percy shook his head, looking almost apologetic.

"She's stuck because the prophecies are all stuck too. She can't do anything to us except talk, but ... that's actually a really bad thing, because it means we can't use the Prophecy of the Seven. She says divine powers are in trouble because they're tied to fate, I guess. And fate's been compromised by Egyptian problems mixing in." He shrugged. "She was vague. I can't even be snippy about her, it was pretty bad."

"But why are we involved?" Carter was still holding his fork, and his face was screwed up in thought. "What 'problems' are we causing?"

"Apparently," Percy replied, "You have a Duat – whatever that is – that's been compromised by stuff from our gods. I shouldn't have been there, and I especially shouldn't have seen Mount Olympus looming over my head." He gave Carter and Sadie a long look. "I hope you know about your caged monster that wants to destroy your world, by the way."

"_Apophis?_"

Sadie stared at him. She'd actually almost forgotten Apophis, with everything that had happened. Almost – she couldn't completely _forget _him and his threat. "She was talking about Apophis, he's an evil god who wants to swallow the sun." She paused, realizing that she'd raised her voice and the whole mess was staring. Doing her best too ignore that, she straightened up and looked Percy right in the eyes.

"We're trying to stop him," she said finally. "Nasty bloke. Wouldn't recommend a meeting."

Sadie thought that Percy took this well, all things considered. He must have calmed down from last night. "You've got similar problems, then," he said, only partly to her. "So he's stuck, too. What about the Duat?"

"It's the magical realm, of the gods," Carter said. "We draw magic from there. I guess you could call it our underworld, too. Was there a river?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, I was on a boat. But the water was ... I couldn't touch it. It was all wrong. Why would there be a _river _down there, anyway?"

"Ancient Egypt, Percy," Frank interjected. "Wouldn't it be the Nile?" He looked around for acknowledgement, but the

"It's the Nile, yeah," Carter said, shifting uncomfortably. "You definitely shouldn't be able to ride a boat down it. And there's no mountain."

There was an awkward silence, as they all tried to process this information. Sadie wondered if she'd ever before lived through so many awkward silences.

Finally, Sadie realized what had been bothering her. "What makes you think you could've controlled the _Nile_? That's a very specific plane of magic, especially in the Duat. _We _wouldn't have been able to."

Percy looked surprised. "My dad is Poseidon," he said. "So water and I, you know, we get along pretty well."

Carter spit out the Kool-Aid he'd been about to swallow, and Sadie's mouth fell open. The whispering – and even some nervous giggles – filled the hall again. "_That's _a demigod?" she cried. "Gods having babies with humans? What- I- _why?_"

Someone laughed out loud. Sadie could fell herself blushing, and scowled, sure she'd gone pink. Stupid. She should've taken it better than that.

Hazel was actually smiling. "Nobody told you two?" she said. Sadie shook her head. "Well, that's it. Camp Jupiter is a safe place for half-gods – demigods. The Greeks have one too, which is where Percy comes from."

"That ... that explains a lot," Carter said, a little dazedly. "So like ... Hercules?"

"Exactly like that," Percy said, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Egyptian gods must not mingle with mortals."

Carter and Sadie looked at each other. Silently, they agreed that the "our father is Osiris" thing wasn't really the same, and that they'd save it for a later date.

Sadie took a deep breath. "So ... are all of you demigods, then?"

Hazel shook her head. "Not in this camp. I told you about legacies last night – some people are just descended from demigods. Like our augur." Sadie made a face, and Hazel managed another smile. "Octavian's a legacy of Apollo. I guess that was something we should've explained properly."

"Just a little, yeah," Sadie said dryly. "Which god's your mum or dad, then?"

Hazel's smile faded, and she looked at her food. "Pluto. Never mind that."

"Alright," Carter said quickly. "Thanks for explaining that, finally. But I think we need to look a little more deeply into this dream before it gets out of hand." Sadie sighed. When she was finally having some fun, too. "I think this is even more life-or-death than we first thought."

There was a murmur of assent – which surprised Sadie. They'd been treated so badly just last night, and now her brother was all for negotiating with them? She glanced at him, eyes alight with disapproval. "Concussion gone to your head, Carter?"

He glared at her, then turned back to the demigods. "Where are those other friends of yours?" he asked Percy. "We have to figure out what to do next, really what to do."

Percy stood up. "We'll go find them," he said. "You can hear about a demigod nightmare in great detail. It's Carter, right?"

He nodded. "That's right. Hey – are you going to eat?"

Sadie looked down at the untouched plate, still sitting in front of Percy. He shrugged. "More important things to think about, I guess. I'm not hungry."

Frank stood up too. "I'll go with you."

The Kanes looked at each other, and Sadie thought again about how much had changed in just one night. She never thought her life could have gotten more dangerous, but now ... well. Apparently more than one primordial, powerful being wanted to end the world.

The Mayans and 2012 really had nothing on the Kane family. Or demigods.

They stood up, and once again with all eyes on them, followed Percy out the door. Hazel went too, and Sadie realized that the hard, fearful knot in her stomach had loosened. Just a little. She was still on guard enough that she wouldn't trust these people fully, not yet.

Magicians, despite everything, still weren't really known for trusting immortals. Even half-immortals.

* * *

><p>"Here."<p>

Sadie had been getting a good look at these people again when Reyna threw Carter his magic kit. Unsurprisingly, now he was clutching it like a lifeline, and his sister was reminded that they still had all _her _weapons, too. Piled in the corner of Carter's infirmary room, yes, but out of her hands nonetheless. She frowned, hands on her hips.

"I'm going to need mine too, if you please."

"I'm getting there," Percy said. He _threw_ hers, presumably in retaliation, but Sadie wasn't about to look bad and fumble. Not in front of all these people, demigods who were all older than her - and must still be extremely wary.

"Thanks," Carter said after a moment. "It's pretty important to me."

"Important for the whole magic thing, then?" Leo – someone Sadie had decided annoyed her immensely - was sitting in the windowsill, and had been one of the more obvious ones staring. Sadie, meanwhile, was still wondering how gods could parent normal kids like this to begin with.

Not that Sadie knew much about this set ofmythology. This was all still absolutely insane.

"Obviously," she snapped, setting her own bag down at her feet. "And Carter's belonged to our dad, if that gives you an idea."

Carter sighed, resting his forehead in his hands and, to Sadie at least, swaying slightly. She raised her eyebrows, but he waved her off with a hand.

"My head just hurts a bit," he said, but even Percy looked skeptical. If he passed out, Sadie would kill him.

Leo – a boy Sadie had already decided was too much to stand – looked up, and gave Carter a long look. He turned to Jason.

"Maybe give the guy some nectar? Tyson hit him good."

"Got that right," Carter muttered. "What's nectar, a painkiller?"

"The drink of the gods," Reyna said. Sadie perked up a little at the thought of what _that _must taste like. "Small doses of it or ambrosia – god food – can heal demigod wounds."

Sadie shrugged (she'd made potions that did that job nicely), but Carter looked interested.

"Will it work on people with plain old magic blood?" he asked. "Magicians are descended from pharaohs, but ..."

Reyna shook her head, giving Leo a look. He shrugged too, holding up his hands in defence. "Hey, it was a thought, _your highness_."

"It'll burn up normal mortals, and I'd rather not see if you qualify as such," she said to Carter, ignoring Leo completely. "You'll have to stick with aspirin."

_Even more _questions, naturally. Burning up? What did that look like? Sadie wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Jason finally cleared his throat to get their attention, and Sadie was actually grateful for the effort to get them back on track. Leo was plain annoying, and she was worried that the nervous satyr was going to start on his tin cans again (though Sadie could handle that – Bast ate Fancy Feast at the breakfast table, so a talking goat-boy hadn't been an issue).

"Guys," he said quickly. The other demigods stopped nervously shuffling on their feet, and Carter looked up from his hands.

"So we know about Percy's dream, and we might know more when Annabeth gets back here. But ... I've gotta tell you, I don't know what to do beyond that. Percy, Reyna? Thoughts?"

Percy shrugged. "I'm in the same boat," he replied, and even Reyna nodded. Hazel and Frank, standing near the back of the room, still looked wholly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Do you think we'll hear from the magicians ourselves?" Grover said suddenly. They all looked up; the satyr had been so quiet since Sadie had met him, chewing on metal or sticking close by the shaken Annabeth. He looked just as concerned now about the attention, his Rasta cap falling into his eyes. "The House of Life, I mean. It's who the magicians work for. Maybe they'll contact us directly?"

Their eyes fell back onto the Kanes. Sadie bent down, and pulled her cell phone out of an outside pocket. "If you really need it, we'll call Brooklyn House and-"

"Wait!"

Sadie froze, and Percy pulled back his hand. She realized every demigod here looked some degree of terrified, and she lowered the phone like it was a deadly weapon.

"And ... why can't I call home, exactly?"

Percy took a deep breath. "Demigods can't use modern tech," he said. "It attracts monsters right to us, and they sniff us out fast enough as it is, okay? So ... don't use that here. Please."

Sadie stared at him. "What do you _do _without cell phones?"

Hazel smiled. "Where I come from, we don't even have them. There are Iris Messages for that at camp."

Carter rolled his eyes, but his sister ignored him. "Well, you'll have to show me," she said, looking at the phone's screen. "I must have twenty messages from Brooklyn House ... they must've found out we were gone."

"Well, they're going to have to wait."

They all looked up, because Annabeth had taken them by surprise. So had Piper, who was carrying a book under one arm and standing just behind the other girl. Both looked exhausted – and from what little Sadie had heard about Annabeth Chase, she guessed they'd been studying all night. At least someone was up for it, she supposed. There were a lot of gaps in this whole "Greek-Egyptian-Roman" world she'd been thrust into.

"Annabeth, did you even sleep?" Percy was watching her with concern.

Annabeth shook her head, but despite the dark circles under her eyes, she seemed satisfied about something. At least, she'd figured something out. She handed Percy a sheet of paper, covered in neatly written notes.

"I went through New Rome's library last night," she said, a little breathless. "Piper too, she offered to help me."

Reyna eyed them both critically. "And what did you find? Will it help us?"

Annabeth gave Reyna an irritated look, before turning to Percy as if she'd never spoken to her. "I found out what Hermes meant by 'blame Ptolemy Soter.' And the connection between Egypt and Greece – there's a major one."

Piper nodded, slipping past Reyna to stand closer to Jason. "Apparently, back when Ptolemy took control of Egypt, he needed a way to unite the peoples of his realm. He was Greek, his followers were all Greek, but Egyptians are ... well, you know. Egyptian."

Carter sat up a little straighter. "Ptolemy was a general of Alexander the Great's till he died," he said, proving once again to Sadie that he was a walking Wikipedia.

"After that, he made himself Pharaoh, but the Egyptians kept revolting against the Greeks and higher-ups. So he changed the religion to keep them in line."

Annabeth and Piper looked a little bit put out – they must have wanted to explain all this themselves – but Annabeth picked up where Carter had left off, as Percy's eyes narrowed and examined the paper he'd been handed.

"Ptolemy the First was a son of Athena, which is how he ruled Egypt with so much success." Carter's eyebrows furrowed; apparently, he hadn't known that part.

Annabeth smiled, continuing on. "And he prayed to her for help in holding his kingdom. The key was religion, so he started a new cult, of a new god he'd created."

"Wait a second," Leo said, looking as confused as Sadie felt. "You can't just _make up _a god. If you could do that, I'd be living a pretty chill life, okay?"

Piper rolled her eyes at him, something Sadie had considered doing herself.

"I'm sure you'd never work again. But here's the thing – Ptolemy was a lot older, a lot wiser, and a lot stronger than we are. And the gods seem to have been on his side in keeping the peace, so with enough belief and power and sacrifice directed towards this new god ..."

"Serapis manifested," Annabeth finished. "And for something like 700 years, he had tons of power in Alexandria and the surrounding areas. He was never part of the Olympians, of course, but he influenced a lot of Egyptian mythology for all that time. He replaced Osiris as Isis' consort for a bit, too, so Ptolemy had a lot of success there."

Sadie straightened up. "Now wait a second," she said, catching everyone's attention; Carter sighed under his breath.

"I follow the path of Isis when it comes to my magic. I know an awful lot about Isis – trust me on this – and that's just crazy."

She was angry all over again, that these people were encroaching on their gods, and their knowledge. Isis wouldn't take up with some grungy Greek god.

Annabeth folded her arms across her chest. "That's the thing," she said evenly. "There was a point, when Egypt was a province of Rome, that Christianity got really big. The Olympians sort of left it behind, from what I can see, and took a bit more of a covert role in the Western world. I guess your House of Life had to go completely underground, because there were no more pagans."

"That doesn't prove your point," Sadie snapped.

"Let us get there!" Piper said sharply.

Jason gave her an apologetic look, and they were all quiet, except for the sound of Grover crunching on aluminium. Sadie looked at Hazel instead, though Hazel clearly had no intention of taking her side.

"Anyway," Annabeth said finally. The attention turned back to the girls, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

"Like I was saying. Serapis wasn't a god like the older ones – he depended on the people keeping him there with belief, as far as I can tell. Eventually, a guy called Theophilus took a Christian mob through Alexandria, and they took out pretty much all traces of paganism. Their biggest accomplishment – if you can call it that – was destroying Serapis' temple. And that was the end of that."

There was another silence. (Sadie was finding that these happened a lot in Camp Jupiter, and that she hated them more each time.) Grover was the one to break it.

"If Serapis is gone, what does that have to do with us? If, you know ... he went the way Pan did, wouldn't he have faded?"

Bringing up this Pan guy made Grover look so sad, that Sadie actually felt sorry for him. She'd have to dig that story up later, for curiosity's sake.

Annabeth seemed to understand, and she looked sympathetic.

"That's it, though," she said to him. "Pan only faded when his job really was done. You remember. The ruins of ancient Alexandria are underwater, and from what we've read, there might have been secret areas of the Serapeum. Labyrinths and the like. And since Serapis' cult died out ..."

"... His presence – what's left of it – probably didn't move on with our gods," Piper finished. "That's what Annabeth thinks, anyway. She also thinks he'd be a strong presence if he woke up, even for a little."

"Do you know what would happen if someone did wake him up?" Percy asked. "Like, would it solve our problem? Or would we have doomsday on our hands? I'm not really up for _another_ version of the end of the world."

Piper shrugged. "We couldn't figure that part out. But I think what we do have might come in handy. At least if-"

She was interrupted by the ringing of Sadie's cell phone, still in her hands. Sadie realized with a start that she'd turned it back on when she was checking her messages; there were a few horrified cries from the demigods around her, and Carter put his face in his hands again. Sadie sighed.

"Relax, relax!" she said, realizing that the number on the screen wasn't anyone from Brooklyn House, but Uncle Amos. Damn it.

"One call won't kill you! Let me take this."

Reyna looked furious. "It's a good thing we're in camp, you-"

Sadie put it on speaker. "Hello?"

"Sadie?" Her uncle's relief was obvious, even over the phone. Sadie was grateful to hear his voice.

"Thank the gods. We've been trying to get to you for ... well, since all this started."

She was fully aware that all eyes were on her again: Carter's were wide and relieved, Reyna's angry, the others a mix of surprised and curious.

"I only just got my phone back," she said. "They had our kits until they figured out we didn't do it."

"They had your _kits?_"

"It's fine, Uncle Amos," Carter called. "Also, we're on speaker. But these people aren't after us or anything. We're fine. Really, fine." Sadie doubted these reassurances would mean much to their uncle. She wasn't sure of them herself.

Carter could really be too trusting sometimes. Sadie sighed, and set the phone on the bed.

"Well, we _did _get attacked and kidnapped. But apparently some magicians killed their people, so they were on the lookout. But the killers weren't from the House of Life, right?"

"No," Amos said. "They were magicians of Menshikov's who got away last time. I don't know what they're playing at, but we've got real problems between the gods thanks to them. But I'm glad you're safe."

"Excuse me," Reyna interjected. "Um, sir. Can you please make this quick? Cell phones and demigods really aren't a good combination."

Amos was quiet. "Demigods?" he said finally. "Half-bloods. That's who found you. I guess it could be worse."

"Uncle Amos," Sadie said quickly. She ignored the fact that Amos knew what a demigod was, to begin with. "We're at a place near Berkeley called Camp Jupiter, and the demigods are our sort-of kidnappers. Well, they were. Demigods, our uncle. Uncle, demigods. Our uncle's Chief Lector at the House of Life," she added.

"It's ... nice to meet you," Percy said slowly. "Yeah. Sorry we kidnapped your niece and nephew."

"Never mind," Amos said quickly. "I'm still trying to negotiate with your parents ... but first I want Carter and Sadie to return to their Nome and wait for more instructions."

Carter looked surprised. "You mean we can go?" he asked. "I know we're not _captives _now, but I thought-"

"-The Olympians have decided you two aren't a threat," Amos said. Sadie frowned; the most powerful magicians born for years, and not a threat? Honestly; gods sometimes.

"So you can leave, yes. But they also don't want two immature magicians going home on their own, because they don't trust me at all."

Amos sighed. "I'm sending Zia Rashid to meet you. Of course, someone from the camp will have to find her outside, or she'll never reach you."

Carter sat up, looking considerably perked up. Sadie rolled her eyes.

Leo hopped down from the windowsill. "Is she hot?"

"Don't talk about her," Carter said, his voice low.

"I'll go too," Piper added. "I'll keep him away from Carter's girlfriend, so it should be okay." Sadie stifled a grin at that; she couldn't help herself, not when she caught a glimpse of Carter's face.

Jason looked a little defeated as he stepped out, closer to the phone. "My friends will escort your magician safely," he said to Amos. "I'm sorry about all this. Things are very tense here as well."

"Turn off the phone, _please_," Reyna muttered.

"Zia will be there in the morning, you two," Amos said. "And with any luck, the Olympians won't be hearing from us after this. I don't want to see a battle for New York from my window again."

There was a dial tone, Sadie realized Amos had hung up, and that was it. Sadie looked around at the demigods – their faces had all gone very serious.

"Well then," Percy said finally. "That was heavy."

"I guess you're going home," Leo said softly.

"Yeah," Carter replied. "Guess so." He wasn't looking at Leo.

"What did he mean by 'a battle for New York?'" Sadie asked, directed at no one in particular. Despite the news, for some reason, she felt even worse.

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Our last war," he said. "A lot of good demigods died. I guess it makes sense, that powerful people like your uncle saw it all."

Carter fell back onto his bed. "My head's killing me again, Sadie," he announced. "I'm gonna get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she said, not really paying attention.

Sadie finally turned to Jason, who had been on his way out with the others. "So is this all you do? Stand around and talk about doing stuff?"

Jason looked very sad, for one long second. "Let me tell you, Sadie. I wish."

Then he was gone, closing the door and leaving her and Carter alone.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: I would like to apologize for taking like a month to update – but school and other stuff sort of took priority this round. Also, I got a beta, so together we're working on improving my writing so you guys can have a better experience with the fic! Also I deleted my outline by accident and my backup is corrupted so now I'm writing it again 8l Another, possibly more interesting thing this time around: after comments from a couple friends, I'm going to start limiting the jumping-around between characters in the chapters. Not too much, since this was always the way this story would be told, but I think limiting the number of characters who speak – and how often – will be good in the long run.<em>

_I'm excited about the coming chapters, since now you guys are seeing how I'm twisting mythology for my own horrible fandom ends. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I welcome feedback as always!_


	4. Adventure by Force

The harpy was really freaking Leo out.

It wasn't as if she was malicious – Ella seemed extremely shy, and she'd been watching the ship's crew with fascination since they'd landed. She was like a skinny winged shadow, hiding behind a mast or thumbing through an Athena kid's logbook as they worked.

Leo didn't mind the attention, exactly. It was only that Ella had also taken a liking to Piper, when Hazel was busy; so she'd followed them all the way to the gate, chattering about nothing and quoting things Leo hadn't even heard of. Then she'd stare at Leo warily with her big frightened eyes, until he had to look away and start talking loudly about something else.

It was unnerving, to say the least.

"So."

Piper looked over when he broke the silence, but Ella ignored him, still flipping through a book she'd pulled from the ship's tiny library.

"So we've been waiting almost half an hour," he said. "I could've slept in. Where the heck is this girl?"

The Chief Lector had promised that Zia Rashid would get there at eight, bright and early; early enough that Leo had regretted his decision to get up and meet her when he'd had to crawl out of bed. (He was still hoping that she'd be hot enough to circumvent (Not sure if this is the right word to use here, maybe offset instead?) this bad fortune.)

"Maybe she ran into a monster," Piper suggested, sounding pretty indifferent for someone who'd volunteered to meet the girl. "Lots of things could have held her up. Just deal with it, Leo. Soon we're going to have one less problem on our hands, I hope."

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't really call 'imminent war' one less problem,_ chica_," he answered.

"Don't call me _chica_, repair boy." Piper frowned, folding her arms across her chest. "Honestly? This isn't much of a stretch, after what we were already dealing with. It doesn't matter whether Gaea or their Apophis guy, or even the gods themselves, destroy the world. All we are is dead, in the end."

"Optimistic this morning, aren't we?"

Piper didn't answer, looking back out at the stretch of grass in front of them. A bus had stopped – the third that morning, Leo had been counting – and a few tired, early morning commuters stepped off and headed towards the fast-food joints. Standard enough behaviour for a bunch of sleepy Americans.

What finally caught his attention was one of the bus' passengers. She was much younger than all the others, too young to be busing around at eight in the morning. She had dark, straight hair, and smooth brown skin, and she gave him and Piper a knowing look.

Ella looked up, and her eyes widened before she curled her knees up close to her chest. "More magicians," she muttered nervously.

"Well," he said after a moment. "Carter can pick them, can't he." He wasn't being the least bit sarcastic (which, frankly, didn't say a lot when it came to Leo Valdez and girls, because he was hard-pressed to find looks he couldn't appreciate). She really was beautiful. Fierce, too.

Piper sighed, but Leo knew she had no time to worry about his antics. That was fine by him.

She straightened up, putting on a serious mask instead of the tired expression she'd been wearing Leo fidgeted, pulling his hands up to rest behind his head.

Zia stopped about six feet in front of them, her hands on her hips and her gaze becoming critical. Leo decided that now was probably not the time for pick-up lines.

"You're the escort, then?" she asked, her voice soft and impassive. Her dark eyes were boring into Leo making him feel like she could kick his butt into next Tuesday if she decided to try it.

Piper nodded, stepping forward. "It's the only way you'd find the camp. I'm Piper – this is my friend Leo. The harpy is Ella."

Ella made a small, frightened sound. Leo waved. Zia ignored both of them.

"My name is Zia," she said, as if Leo and Piper didn't already know. Maybe she hadn't gotten the full memo from that Amos guy? "We should get all this over with as quickly as possible. I've been very worried about Sadie and Carter." Leo tried to ignore just how nice her accent was, because even he could admit that this was probably the wrong time to start hitting on her.

"Well, they're here," Piper said shortly, giving Leo a pointed "_don't start anything_" look before turning back to Zia. "I think we've caused each other enough trouble, don't you?"

The corners of Zia's mouth twitched. "As if there was not enough trouble already. We should go and-"

She was cut off by loud rumbling, and Leo tensed up, feeling the ground under his feet shudder as he had the remembered that, no, nothing was going to go as planned.

Ella jumped up with a small shriek, the pages of her book turning in the sudden breeze as she grabbed at Piper's shoulder. Zia turned sharply, her eyes narrowing.

"A monster?" Leo said, aware that he was close to yelling. "_Now?_"

Zia swore quietly, in a language Leo didn't know. "I may have been followed – but not by a monster." Her brow was creased with thought. "It was rogues who did it, and they are probably looking for trouble still ..."

"Trouble," Ella said shakily. "A game where players compete to send their four coloured pieces all the way around the square game board."

Zia and Leo both looked at her. Piper raised her eyebrows.

"She can't help it – and there are people coming this way."

Leo knew this would be bad as soon as he saw their long, flowing robes. Nothing good came from people in mysterious, billowy Death Eater clothes.

Zia had turned around, standing in front of Leo to face the two figures. He saw her head shake, and one of them called something to her that he couldn't quite hear.

"You know these two?" he asked, his stomach twisting into a nervous knot. If there was some divine force, some _agnostos theos _that worked beyond Olympus, it really hated them at this moment.

"Unfortunately," she replied, giving him a quick, worried glance. "They're the ones we think murdered your people. Old enemies of ours."

Fantastic. Without really thinking about it, Leo put his hand on his tool belt. Why couldn't he ever meet hot girls without a violent confrontation? It was just unfair.

"Hello, Zia Rashid!" one of them called, about twenty feet away from them.

It was a woman's voice, and she strode ahead of her companion. Leo saw her icy smile, and the woman's cold eyes and mussed black hair reminded him eerily of Tia Callida.

"You and your friends are usually better at covering your tracks."

Leo saw Piper grit her teeth, and Ella squeezed closer to them. He had to give these guys something: this _had _to be a new record in the number of minutes it took for the baddies to catch up.

"We're not usually so distracted by actions as disgusting as yours!" Zia shot back. "I'm sure you know what you've caused, Sarah Jacobi."

The woman clasped her hands together. "They got in the way," she said simply. "There were no hard feelings."

"There's a reason you were shipped to the last Nome – and your friend to the 300th."

It didn't take long for Leo to figure out that she was bluffing; just from her stance and the quality in her voice, Zia was probably outmatched. The knot in his stomach tightened.

"Um, excuse me," he said after a moment. "Are we gonna be able to get out of this?" Zia and Piper both turned to look at him, and so did their unexpected arrivals. How reassuring. "Y'know, you're the magician, so you'd be the expert on other ones. Can we get out of here?"

Zia sighed, but before she could speak one of the pair started laughing – the man this time, a guy in blue robes whose eyes didn't smile with his face. It was soft, which made him even more unnerving, and Leo heard Ella whimper.

"Menshikov is dead," he said, "but you don't have an army behind you this time, do you?"

"Neither do you. In fact, you're outnumbered four to two."

Leo hardly thought Ella would be good in a fight, and from the look on Piper's face, she was figuring the same thing. But he tried to stand up straight with his chest puffed out, like he wasn't already a little terrified of what was coming next.

Sarah Jacobi snickered. "Kwai's right – especially since I hear you don't have gods on your side right now. How's that for a change, demigods?"

Leo glanced back at Piper – she'd been caught off-guard, just like him, so it made sense that she hadn't tried anything yet. Now she was only glaring, mouth curled in anger. Neither had he, because he suspected if he started rummaging in his tool belt that the two magicians would attack.

There was a sudden, sharp _crack _and a staff appeared to each of the two. They were long and embellished with hieroglyphs, the kinds of objects Leo hadn't thought could work magic in the real world.

He'd never had a harder time thinking up hilarious quips to relax the situation – normally he had some sort of commentary going on to relax him in bad times, and it helped. Not today.

Zia seemed to be less shocked than Leo – she snapped her fingers the next second, and a wand fell into her hand too.

To put it bluntly, things were really about to get upset. And Leo had to admit that not even his winning personality and wonderful sense of humour would get them out of this one.

"That was quick," the woman magician mused. "A fight already? I've beaten little demigods like you before, but you already knew that."

"Granted," Kwai said softly, "we're not planning on killing you yet. We have better things to do."

Leo realized Piper was brandishing her dagger – because they knew how well Helen of Troy had done in her spat, right? Not that she had a choice right now. He snapped his fingers and hot sparks flew.

"We throw them off and go," Piper said under her breath. Leo had his doubts about whether or not they could really throw them off; not that Ella would be much help, clinging to Piper's shoulder with her long harpy's claws and whimpering softly.

"So, uh, Zia - how do magicians feel about fire?"

He didn't like doing this, of course. Piper wouldn't have to ask why. He'd rather build and trick, it was much more fun and much less likely to kill you. But it would have to do. Jason would be pissed if they came home dead – or worse.

Zia turned for a split second, and Leo, to his surprise, saw something almost like relief on her face.

"Exactly what I need," she said to him - and there wasn't even a hint of sarcasm. "And Piper?"

"Got your back." She had drawn her dagger, and was looking close to bloodthirsty.

He heard a staff pound the ground impatiently. "I'm being awfully nice," Sarah called, "giving you a chance. Children like you don't really deserve it, especially not Greek bastards."

Piper's teeth clenched. "Bring it on, then!" she shouted. "You took them by surprise, but not us." She was holding her dagger in front of her, but Leo was surprised that she hadn't tried to charmspeak.

But maybe she was charming them without even knowing, and it was prompting them to attack. Leo didn't quite know how it worked, but he wouldn't have been surprised if their fantastic luck got them _that_.

At the very least, she'd spoken up. Hopefully she'd been thinking hard while she'd been so quiet.

They didn't have time to find out.

The man, Kwai, shouted something, and right away something like a high-pressure hose shot forward and threw all three of them into the tunnel. So much for fire, and so much for gaining the upper hand; water roared in Leo's ears and mouth and nose, and he choked and sputtered as they crashed against the concrete.

Leo staggered up first, and he could hear quiet laughter from their opponents. This felt like a cartoon, so surprising and _unreal _compared to their usual fights. That made sense, he thought hazily. Magicians themselves were unreal and made no sense.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Piper, struggling to move. He saw that Zia had jumped up too. Somewhere Ella was wailing, but definitely not fighting. That hydro cannon must have missed her.

Zia stood up, a little shaky herself, but she straightened up quickly, brandishing her wand at their attackers. Leo finally got his bearings and reached into his toolbelt, managing to pull out his club hammer at just the right moment. Sarah had to jump back from his swing, enough time for him for fall back and look at Zia.

He realized Piper still hadn't gotten up. But both magicians launched themselves forward again, and because he couldn't reach Piper, he did the most off-putting thing he could think of – set himself on fire.

_That _was a much more familiar roar in his ears, and he ran forward with his hammer, shouting something that was probably incomprehensible and vaguely aware that Zia was behind him too. He hoped that she was working her magic, that maybe together they could pull this off.

Suddenly his fire felt much stronger. And he realized it wasn't all him.

With Zia's help, he pushed back Kwai and Sarah, but within a few seconds his fire began to sputter away and he stopped, breathing hard. They had strong shields up, or something elsethat would get in the way of winning, and he had to get to Piper. She hadn't joined the fray, that wasn't normal, and oh gods, if she was really hurt Jason would fry him.

"Cover me!" he called, aware that the ten minutes they'd known each other was probably not enough for Zia to do that just for him … but doing this anyway, because it was imperative that he check on Piper.

He only had enough time to shove Ella away from her, and glance at her slight form on the ground, before Zia's shield failed and she was thrown back again.

Leo felt his arm grabbed roughly, and he realized that Kwai was _much _stronger than his sickly figure made him appear. Of course he was. They were actually going to die.

"Don't worry yet," Kwai murmured, Leo pulling back from his voice as far as he could. "I can't kill you today, or I'll get nothing useful out of you."

"You mother-"

Something smashed, and he heard Zia yell.

Multiple kidnappings in 36 hours, Leo mused. A new record for the demigod orders.

The next spell blacked him out.

* * *

><p>"God <em>damn <em>it!"

In spite of himself Carter took a step back – had those been lightning bolts crackling when Jason's fists hit the table?

Jason was actually shaking, and if Carter looked down at his own hands he saw that he was too – so he couldn't blame Jason for his rage. When he thought of Zia at this moment, wherever she was, Carter's blood boiled and he had to clench his teeth to keep himself calm.

They were all gathered around a table, in the otherwise empty mess hall. Percy was standing closest to Carter, looking bewildered and lost in thought all at once. Across from him, Sadie had her hands clasped tightly together. She was staring intently at the table, eyes narrowed.

For a moment, the only sound was Ella's harsh sobs. Hazel had her arms around her, in a fairly futile attempt to keep her calm now that the story had been choked out. A small team had been sent out, too – but they'd already come back, confirming that there were signs of a struggle and no demigods in sight.

Carter hated this place. And he hated them for not getting Zia here safely, like they'd promised.

This was unreasonable, to be sure. But he no longer cared.

"So," Sadie said finally.

They all looked up, but she didn't seem concerned by the attention. "I'm not much for making plans, but ..."

"We have to find them." Jason's voice had become deadly soft, and he dropped back into his chair. "Now. Immediately. We have to."

Carter had never agreed more with anyone. "Those people are criminals," he said, clenching his hands into fists. "I can't let anything happen to Zia- or your demigods. Yeah. We can't let anything happen to them." His sister raised her eyebrow. Carter scowled.

"Excuse me," Annabeth said loudly. She didn't flinch when Jason turned his eyes onto her. "You're right," she added quickly. "We have to do _something_. But there's also stopping this new conflict between our gods, finding Serapis ..."

"Who said we'd be finding Serapis?" demanded Reyna.

Annabeth turned to her, folding her arms. "Who said we weren't?"

"He might not even exist! There are lots of false gods, throughout history!"

"Ladies!" Carter said loudly. This, for the record, was not helping his perception of these people.

They all looked at him, but he couldn't take it as well as Sadie did – not when he was so riled up. He cleared his throat nervously.

"Whatever you guys choose to do, I'm going to find Zia, but that doesn't mean you should argue about it. I don't care what you do, to be perfectly honest. But you should probably know what I'm doing." The consequences of such actions hadn't quite occurred to Carter yet, though he was calmer than Jason. He was still plenty angry.

Sadie frowned. "This is going to ruin us, too. Any ideas on how to stop Apophis while the gods are killing each other, Carter?"

He clenched his teeth, and said nothing for a moment. The logical part of him said that for once, _Sadie _was being the most reasonable, that they had to end this so they could destroy Apophis. But the thought of letting down Zia _again _made him sick to his stomach.

Carter leveled his voice, thinking carefully before he spoke. "The people who did this," he said. "They're the same ones who killed the demigods, right?"

Reyna nodded, her eyes still narrowed. "It's very likely, yes. Is that your excuse to go after them?"

"Of course," he replied, since Percy and Annabeth were in the room, and he'd figured out by now the different impact this had had on the respective groups of Greeks and Romans. "Of course that's an excuse. But those people are rebels in the House of Life to begin with – it was pretty bad as it was even before the murder. Or the kidnapping, for that matter."

He risked a glance in Jason's direction. He was looking at Carter with interest, but he seemed to have relaxed a little. Or so Carter hoped. _He _was doing his best to calm down, as difficult as it was.

Reyna folded her arms. "Go on."

Carter exhaled. "They're trying to overthrow our uncle as Chief Lector, because they don't like our … mode of operation. We practice magic differently. So this is likely tied into all that, especially taking Zia. She's very close to the Chief Lector."

"So you think stopping these people could help us stop the war, then?" Percy asked, still looking slightly skeptical. Of _course _that's what Carter meant, so Percy must have disagreeing on principle.

"Getting back Leo and Piper would be a big help there," Annabeth noted. "And Zia must be a good magician, or their leader wouldn't keep her so close."

"She is," Sadie said, folding her hands in her lap. "Carter could tell you all about her. For hours."

"Not the time, little sister."

She smiled. "I've been so quiet this morning, I simply had to let it out."

"Okay," Percy said quickly. "So obviously it's a good idea to go save the others. It's just a given, I help my friends. But we also need to be united if we have any hope of doing this while the gods are distracted."

Carter knew that. Hadn't he already said he knew that? But these were dangerous people, and it had also been established that they couldn't exactly go adventuring with Zia in so much danger …

"We could kill two birds with one stone, sort of. From what we got out of Ella, it's almost certain that the two magicians who did this were Sarah Jacobi and Kwai. Very well-known criminals in our circle."

"But they'd love it if the gods went to war," Sadie said slowly. "So they wouldn't exactly get in the way if they all start fighting, right?"

"They might get in our way," he replied. "Actually, wouldn't it make sense that they'd directly attack a magician we're close to? And then since two demigods happened to be near her as well, they've given us a reason to retaliate."

Reyna looked up sharply. "You _want _them to lure us in? It sounds like a good trap to me."

Carter looked up sharply. "What? No!" He paused, trying to better contain his thoughts. "I guess it looks that way from the outside. I think we should go after them at the same time as finding Serapis, since that seems to be our best shot at stopping this."

"I just told you we can't split up." Reyna's eyes were narrowed, and flashed at Carter. He shook his head.

"I know. It's a bad idea to. But Sarah and Kwai _will _hurt your friends-" at this, Jason's fists clenched again, "-and then they'll try to keep us from stopping our worlds from collapsing in on each other. They really, _really _hate our family. Splitting up will, well, kill both birds with one stone. Well -if it works," he added.

There was a long silence after that. Frank, who was standing at the table's other end, curled and uncurled his fingers and stared at the table intently. Carter heard Ella whimper.

Jason finally straightened up. He gave Carter a long look, which Carter returned without trouble, one eyebrow raised.

"I'd love to run out of here right now, and help Piper and Leo. It's my fault, because I sent them." He looked around at all of them, almost daring them to argue. Percy looked close, but Jason spoke up again before he could reply.

"But … Carter made a good point, now that he's calming down."

Carter, personally, had thought he'd already been fairly calm. But he wasn't exactly looking at all of this objectively, was he?

"If we do this right and we're very, very lucky, we can run two quests. We'll stay in touch, and meet up again when we've got them back. And then when it's time to find Serapis we get back together and wake him up."

Carter looked around at them all. "Well?"

Percy was the first to reply. "Quests are always just a few people anyway. I've never been on one with more than four – and at our camp they usually only pick three." He added this, Carter assumed, for his and Sadie's benefit. "Is that how you guys do it?" he asked.

He nodded. "We don't call them _quests_, but yeah, you usually only send a few people to do a job."

Sadie leaned her chair back, kicking her combat boots up onto the table's edge. "So the question is who goes on what quest then, yes?"

"The augur decides when quests occur," Reyna said firmly. "We need to ask the gods, and that's if-"

"If _what?_" Sadie shot back. "Who cares what that jerk decides for us? Do you really think the bloody gods are listening right now?"

Reyna scowled. "The augur and the gods decided whether or not you and your brother lived."

"No, they didn't," Sadie snapped. "Your rotten dogs proved we weren't liars. We've already established that this is in _our _hands now."

Good old Sadie. She wasn't afraid to say what she wanted, and sometimes it could just go their way.

"You guys!" Grover said suddenly.

They all turned to look; Carter had almost forgotten he was within ten feet of a goat-man, Grover had been so quiet. He realized that he must have been thinking, while the rest of them were arguing. Not that he still didn't look terrified.

"Quests don't always have to be _authorized_," he said finally. "Nobody exactly told Theseus to kill the Minotaur, did they? The gods don't care – do you think Hermes was here for any reason but obligation? Percy went on a quest when he wasn't supposed to, and it worked out." Grover coughed nervously. "Well. Almost worked out."

"Why _almost?_" Sadie asked suspiciously. Percy shook his head. Carter didn't have time to wonder what it was that had happened.

"My point is," Grover continued, "that satyrs don't sit around and wait for the gods to tell us when we can look after our wild places, or when we looked for Pan … you know what I mean. So I don't really want to sit around and watch you guys deliberate. It was bad enough when it was just Greeks and Romans."

They were all quiet for a second, a very palpable silence making Carter wonder if Grover had just made a very bad move. Nobody reacted at first. Grover began to shrink back to his place.

Carter finally stood up. "Magicians do what we have to do, _when _we have to," he announced, giving his sister a pointed look. She didn't stick her tongue out, or roll her eyes, to her credit. "And what we have to do is find Zia and the demigods."

There it was, without threats or arguing. It was what it had to be.

"But we also have to find Serapis," Annabeth interjected. "Or at least _something _to end this."

"I know," Carter said dryly. "You've said so severaltimes now. But who said we all have to go on the same quest, anyway? Why didn't we just think of splitting up?"

Jason shifted uncomfortably. The other demigods appeared apprehensive, though Sadie looked as confused as Carter suddenly felt.

Fortunately for him, Sadie was not one to keep her mouth shut for any longer. Gods bless the little brat.

"I'm going to assume that you either all can't bear to be apart, or don't trust each other any farther than you can throw each other," Sadie said finally. "Whichever is the case, too bad. I was all for deliberating before running off, _for once_, and I think we've done plenty of that. We have no choice but to split up. Even if I don't want to, and let me tell you, I don't go quietly when I'm not getting my way."

Another long silence rang in Carter's ears. These were starting to get distracting.

Reyna's shoulders slumped a little, but it was when she looked at Percy that Carter knew they had won.

"We can't leave them to die." She looked around at them all. "As praetor, I overrule the authority of the augur." She nearly stumbled over the end of her words. "Just this once."

"I could do that?" Percy asked, looking affronted. Carter guessed that he'd wanted to overrule Octavian quite a bit.

"Just this once. The question is how we begin this quest, seeing as I still find this very … unorthodox." Reyna still didn't look entirely convinced that this was a good idea. Well, maybe it wasn't.

"I'll find a lead on the others," Jason said immediately, his eyes on Carter.

Carter didn't hesitate. "Me too," he replied, giving Sadie a pointed look. She shrugged, a "do want you want," answer. Carter coughed. "You're all welcome to join us."

"We're splitting up," Sadie interjected. "What was the other thing we had to do? Find … Sa-rapist?"

"Serapis," Annabeth said tiredly. "But you tried."

Percy covered his mouth with his fist, in an attempt to hide his laughter.

"Percy," Reyna said suddenly. "I want you to go after Serapis. I'm sure Annabeth will insist, and of course you two just can't be kept apart." Out of the corner of his eye, Carter saw Annabeth glaring daggers in her direction. (He didn't dwell on it – this was _not _the time for romantic drama.)

Percy frowned. "Oh, well I'm glad you think I could've made my own decisions." Annabeth turned her eyes on him. "But of course I'm going where she goes," he added. "That's a given."

"I figured," Reyna muttered.

"And I'll come with you, buddy!" Grover said enthusiastically, though nobody seemed to be paying attention anymore. A murmur sprung up among those assembled, deliberating on who should go where, and who should stay and wait.

Carter glanced at his sister, who had rested her chin on her fists and was already looking impatient. They might be at this a long time.

* * *

><p>"How long do we have?"<p>

Jason looked up from the sword in his lap. He and Carter were still sitting in the mess hall, even after the others had trickled out. Even Sadie had said she'd wait for Carter in their room. Jason had finally hopped onto the table, sitting cross-legged and pretending to appear extremely interested in his weaponry.

Really, he just didn't know what to do with himself. So he hadn't left the room, and neither had his current companion.

"Jason?" Carter asked again. The other boy was sitting on the bench, hunched over the mess table and looking down at his fingers.

He realized that maybe he should answer, much as he'd like to sit and stay quiet.

"Three days, I guess. Four if we're lucky. We have to meet with the others at some point, whether or not we save them."

"Yeah." Their voices were both flat with tiredness. They'd both lost their fire from the meeting earlier.

Jason knew just how lost he must look. Hunched over and staring at the gold sword in his lap with dulled eyes. He couldn't bring himself now to do that much about it.

"Some days I hate being the leader. Vigilante justice is still sounds like a much better alternative."

"I never wanted to be a leader, but I am back home," Carter replied softly. "This is all the more reason to wish I wasn't responsible for anything."

Jason was quiet for a moment. There had been a lot of long silences since the Kane siblings had arrived, hadn't there?

"But we still are responsible for something, right?" Jason replied, lifting his head and turning his eyes on the beams in the ceiling. If they didn't at all feel responsible for what had happened, would they feel so strongly about fixing it? "I let them go, so if it weren't for me they'd- well, you'd be on your way home with your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Carter snapped. "I don't like her like that." The speed of his retort told Jason that Carter was definitely lying.

"Well, Piper's _my _girlfriend, and Leo's my best friend. So I'd go no matter what." Jason finally picked up his sword, and with a soft _crack _it returned to its _denarii _form. He swung his legs out, hopping off the table's edge and turning to back to Carter. "But since I'm the son of Zeus, andthe liaison between camps, _and _the praetor, the others had to talk me down so I didn't run off and save the day. I guess."

Carter would've run off right with him, at least. Percy, too, if Annabeth hadn't been so close by after so long apart. It didn't mean that Jason didn't still feel utterly alone.

Carter only raised his eyebrows. "Son of Zeus, huh?" he said. "The king of the gods must have big shoes to fill."

Jason smiled wryly. "Son of Jupiter. But you were close. What do magicians have to be living up to, speaking of which?" He guessed that Carter also had a lot on his shoulders – especially if he was the one looking after Sadie, wild girl that she seemed to be.

Carter managed a weak, returning smile. "According to Horus, I'm destined to be pharaoh of the magicians? Something like that. It's a little much to swallow."

"Yeah." Jason's hands fell at his sides, and he felt himself relax. "Taking care of your would seem like enough responsibility without having to be future king or whatever."

He was picturing Carter like Ramses in _The Prince of Egypt_, which had been unwise, because now Jason felt a sudden sharp urge to laugh. He – just barely – managed to contain it.

There was another short silence. Jason picked at the grain on the table.

"So, uh, how do you find out if you can make magic? Is it an inheritance thing? Do you get a letter of approval?"

Carter blinked. "Well … yeah, actually. An inheritance thing, I mean. Magicians are descended from the Pharaohs of Egypt, so it runs through bloodlines. Both our parents were."

"Who are you descended from?" Now Jason was a little curious, not that he'd ever been much of a history fan. It always came down to family if it came down to gods, didn't it?

"Ramses the Great and Narmer, the first Pharaoh," Carter said, looking sheepish. "Apparently that much kingly blood makes Sadie and I the most powerful magicians born in a long time. Not to brag or anything," he added quickly.

"Ramses, huh? That makes sense for the _Prince of Egypt _thing, then."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Jason dropped down onto the bench. "My father is the king of the gods, and he's not supposed to be having kids. Too strong. So we're even on power levels."

The other boy raised his eyebrows. "These gods have kids running around all over the place, but your dad's not allowed to have any? Poseidon was pretty important too, and Percy's around."

Jason shrugged, a little uncomfortably. This was a touchy subject. Being the son of Jupiter had always been a pretty touchy subject, actually, even when so many people had genuinely liked him.

"After the Second World War – which was about sons of Jupiter and Neptune fighting sons of Pluto – the gods agreed that children of the three most powerful gods, those brothers, shouldn't be alive. Too dangerous. So they had to stop. I only found out recently that it was because the Greeks were afraid of fulfilling a prophecy with one of us."

Carter looked interested. "So was it fulfilled?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Percy Jackson was the one. He and I weren't supposed to be born, but ..." He motioned in front of him. "Here we are. I have a sister, too. She was a tree for awhile, now she's an immortal lieutenant of Artemis. Diana, if you're Roman like me."

Carter now looked less interested and more confused. Jason couldn't blame him. "You're going to have to go into more detail on that one. Another time."

Jason folded his hands together on the tabletop, fidgeting like he always did when things felt awkward.

"Yeah. But we do know a little more about each other, and that does wonders for stuff like this." Jason held out a hand. "I make it a point to get to know my quest partners." Befriend them, if he was lucky. Sometimes people were intimidated by the son of Jupiter.

After a moment, Carter took it. Not that Jason had really expected anything else.

"I do too. Maybe between us – and whoever comes with us – we can channel all this guy-rage into something we can use. Sarah Jacobi had better look out."

Jason grinned, giving Carter's hand a squeeze before letting go. "She doesn't know who she's dealing with now."

Magicians were really just fine. Not normal at all, of course. But how normal were stressed out, temperamental young demigods anyway?

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: I still love you guys, I swear. I just …had a very difficult time writing this chapter, due to having to graduate high schoolsurvive life/get these characters to cooperate and all that jazz. Well, fear no more, because the plot has arrived! Even if the chapter it arrived in doesn't really feel like my strongest. I guess that's for you guys to judge! Hopefully now that summer's appeared I'll have more time to just sit down and write without distraction. Thank you for sticking with me, despite an atrocious update schedule, guys._


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